Alchemy
by KLCtheBookWorm
Summary: A mysterious illness suddenly puts DG in charge and she seeks help where no one in the O.Z. expected her to.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Tin Man/Medical Investigation: Alchemy  
><strong>Author:<strong> KLCtheBookWorm  
><strong>CharactersPairings:** Everybody from both shows plus some OCs. DG/Cain, Stephen Connor/Natalie Durant, and Azkadellia/Miles McCabe.  
><strong>Rating:<strong> G  
><strong>Summary:<strong> A mysterious illness suddenly puts DG in charge and she seeks help where no one in the O.Z. expected her to.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> Own nothing, but I would take really good care of it if it needs a new home. Also this story was made possible with lots of help from this book: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dangerous Diseases and Epidemics.  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> Set about an annual after the _Tin Man_ miniseries. Set after the last episode of _Medical Investigations_. References to _You Ever Wonder Why?_ by ErinM (.net/s/5011147/1/You_Ever_Wonder_Why). It's part of my fanon for _Medical Investigation_ and some sections may depend on you reading it. Read it anyway, even if it doesn't.  
><strong>Note:<strong> Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4.  
><strong>Prompt:<strong> Luck

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><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part One<strong>

At first the people would say good luck had Princess DG and her companions visiting Finaqua when the town of Neverdale fell ill. Her compassionate heart would have made her travel with the Queen to see what new calamity had befallen the citizens of the O.Z. Instead the eldest daughter and the Consort accompanied the Queen, and the frenzied messenger had another member of the Royal Family as a destination.

He straightened his travel-stained uniform. All the Heroes of the Eclipse sat in the gazebo by the lakeshore. Wyatt Cain's reputation as the last sight whoever upset Princess DG saw was already legendary, but the Viewer and the former Headcase were just as bad. Oh well, at least he will die in service to his Queen. "Your Highness."

DG looked up from the sketchpad on her lap. "What's the emergency?"

He didn't mean to gape, but how did she know? The Viewer growled softly and the former Tin Man shifted, so the messenger blurted what he had been told. "The Queen's Council summons you back to Central City immediately."

"What? I cleared this vacation with them. They can't order me around, can they, Glitch?"

Before anyone could escort him from the displeased Princess, he continued with the rest of the message. "It's an emergency. The Queen has fallen ill, possibly the Consort and Princess Azkadellia. Your Highness must come back to Central City!"

* * *

><p>The Queen's Council found out yet again they didn't control the actions of the youngest Princess. DG only stayed in Central City long enough to find out where her family was before running down the Brick Route and branching lanes after them. Glitch was glad when the bouncing truck finally reached Neverdale, even though he dreaded what they would learn.<p>

DG barely waited for the vehicle to stop before she jumped out. The Royal Army tents were set up away from the town and blocking the road in. Captain Jeb Cain intercepted her, but DG stopped and waited for the older men behind her to catch up. "What do you know, Jeb?"

"We've got a communication line into the town, but the Consort gave orders to keep everyone out after the soldiers who went in replacing their guards got sick too."

"Do you know who isn't sick, son?" Cain split his focus between Jeb giving the information and DG receiving it.

"So far the Consort and Princess Azkadellia both say they're okay, and they're the only ones who aren't sick or dead in the entire town." DG stiffened and Cain's hand gripped her shoulder. "But they don't know what the sickness is," Jeb finished.

DG nodded. "When will the doctors get here?" She stomped her foot at the blank stares. "You know, doctors, people who study diseases and how to heal people."

"Alchemists," Glitch corrected. He burrowed into the records snatched up during their brief stop at the Palace. How many people lived in Neverdale?

"Fine, alchemists. Nobody has sent for any?"

Jeb shook his head. "There aren't any to send for."

"They didn't all work for the witch."

"Witch hunted healers who refused to join her," Raw answered.

DG stared at the shingled-roofs beyond the tents. "What about other countries? Can we borrow some alchemists?"

"And advertise to the Longcoats and any other hostiles that we have a health crisis that has affected the Royal Family?" Cain shook his head. "The Council will never go along with that."

"I out rank them."

"But I would agree with them." He pushed his fedora back to glare at her more.

She matched his glare. "A secret trip."

Glitch had to interject, even though he'd rather not have the glares focused on him. "There's no way to keep a trip across the deserts secret, DG. Not with the levels of protection you'd need." She did turn her glare on him, but he ignored it. "Do you think the tiktoks would help minister? Ahamo and Azkadellia can't care for that many ill without relief. How many are ill?"

"I never got a hard number," Jeb admitted.

"I need to talk to them." DG's voice cracked and she took a moment before continuing. "Where did you put the phone?"

The younger Cain led DG away and Glitch turned to the older. "She can't get sick too."

"You better get some tiktoks here before the Council arrives and mucks things up." Cain adjusted his hat before trailing after his son and the Princess.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** List

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><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>

**Part Two**

"There's only fifty townspeople left out of a population of a hundred." DG added the numbers under the list she had already wrote down of the symptoms. "Plus the dozen guards that traveled with you, plus the six soldiers Jeb sent in before Father told him to quarantine. And they're all sick with the same thing?" Azkadellia answered affirmatively but distractedly. DG set the pen down to grip the receiver better. "Be honest with me, Az. Is it sixty-nine or seventy-one?"

"I'm not sick, Little Sister." Exhaustion leaked over the telephone wire. "Father isn't showing any symptoms, but he doesn't want to leave Mother if he doesn't have to, so I'm trying to make everyone else comfortable. If they'll let me."

"We're finding you help. But you have to take care of yourself in the mean time. Please get some sleep."

"You can't let anyone else come in here! They'll get sick!"

"Where's my baby girl!"

DG aimed her free ear at the commotion outside the tent. Az was still upset over more sick soldiers, so she had to cut her off. "Az, it's okay. Who we send in won't get sick. I have to go." She ducked out of the tent and saw Hank in heated discussion with the soldier blocking his path. "Popsicle!"

The tiktok who looked like an aged farmer scooped her up in a hug. "DG!" He let her go to search her face. "You don't have that Captain Trips, do you?"

"Land sakes, not that again." Emily held out her arms for her hug, which DG gladly returned. "Ever since he saw that King Stephen miniseries, he has always been afraid you would catch that."

"What about that bird flu thing?" Hank demanded. "Whole city wearing masks to breathe through."

A glimmer of an idea was taking shape in DG's mind, but she had to be sure. "A Stephen King miniseries?"

"The one with everyone dying, not the one with the clown," Hank said.

"_The Stand_?"

"That's the one. They aren't that sick, are they?"

"It's pretty bad. Let's hope it's not a harbinger of Armageddon. Az knows better than me who needs what, but make sure she takes care of herself and my parents. I need to go find some doctors."

Emily tucked a lock of hair behind DG's ear. "Don't worry about the patients. You go do what you need to do."

She hugged them again before charging off to find Cain, Glitch, and Raw. They were all in the same tent going over some maps with Jeb. "Your nurture units are here," Cain said with a brief glance her way.

"Saw them after I got the details from Az. Half the town has died since the sickness started and when they got here everyone with them got sick in a day or two."

"How is Galinda?" Glitch asked with a worried frown.

DG tightened her grip on her notebook. "I didn't get to talk to her. Az says all she can do is lay down and cough. And that the rest of the sick said coughing is how it starts before the victim starts coughing up blood and dies." She looked at the maps. She knew what she was going to do, but she had to cover everything. "What else is going on?"

"The Council wants you to return to Central City." Glitch wrung his hands before hiding them under the table. DG shook her head and he threw up his hands. "Then they're going to come here to keep the government functioning."

"So I only have a couple of days to find doctors before they're making a nuisance of themselves? That's doable."

Jeb looked up from the map. "And how are you going to do that?"

She pulled her shoulders back. "Get 'em from the Other Side."

Both of Cain's hands slammed onto the table. "Are you crazy!"

"DG desperate, not crazy."

"Thanks for the over share, Raw." The Viewer didn't seem perturbed by her grumble, so she focused on the nay saying Tin Man. "Earth has no political stake in the O.Z., doesn't even knows it exists. And there are doctors who only study diseases. I just have to find one with some vacation time and bring him or her here for a working one."

His jaw had hardened and his skin ticked over the bone. "Just when a body thinks you can't get any more reckless..."

"All my family is in there; I have to do something!"

He instantly softened and she wished he had kept her mouth shut. Why couldn't he take her seriously without it getting emotional? Next she'll be reminding him of how he couldn't do anything to save his family.

Glitch was more than willing to jump in now that Cain had backed off. "DG, you're in charge, you can't just leave."

"My nurture units just went in to care for the dying. I'm the only one left who can go."

"When do we leave?" Cain asked.

DG's eyes opened wide at the 'we.' That was not part of the plan. But Wyatt Cain would not let her go alone and his trusted list was few. "Actually, I was thinking Jeb should go with me. You can stay here and keep the Council in line."

"What?" demanded both Cains in unison.

"The Council is totally intimidated by you, Tin Man. You can growl at them that I'm not to be disturbed and be a distraction while Jeb and I find a doctor."

Cain's blue eyes narrowed. "You want me to be a distraction while you take my son to the Other Side."

She grinned. "Yes, exactly." Then she turned to Raw. "And you said he only hears what he wants to hear."

"Raw never said that!"

"We'll be fine on the Other Side, Cain. And back before the Council ruins your blood pressure. We'll leave in a few hours, okay Jeb?" DG sped out of the tent before they could raise any more objections.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Stripes

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Three<strong>

Jeb thought back to something the Consort had told him after they had reformed the Royal Army and he became an officer. "Worry about the days when you feel that you are earning these stripes." This must be one of those days the Consort had meant. Here he was about to jump into the travel storm called up by the Princess who nearly an annual ago didn't even know she could do magic, leaving behind his seething father who was trying hard not to take the seething out on anyone.

Speaking of, Jeb faced his father as the older man strode toward him. Wyatt Cain pushed down his anger and let his concern show. "Be careful over there. And... and take care of her." His glance at DG said all the words his mouth couldn't.

"I will." Jeb flung his arms around his father and the fedora was nearly lost to the growing stronger winds, but he was glad he had given into the impulse once he joined DG's side. The magic flung them into the air.

His feet landed on grass and his gaze scanned the landscape for danger while the storm quieted. A single sun floated above the distant horizon. Closer was a white-washed cottage nestled among a stand of trees.

"How many times will I have to use those damn things before I stop landing on my butt?" DG stood up and brushed off her backside. "Welcome to Kansas."

"That's where you grew up?" He gestured at the cottage. She nodded. "It's not what I had pictured."

"We won't stay, just long enough for me to find my cellphone, some money, and clothes to blend in better."

Jeb followed her lead across the overgrown lawn to the cottage. "We need to establish some things, Princess."

"I know your father thinks I make trouble by breathing, but I'm not that bad. And nobody wants to kill me here, so all you have to do is pretend nothing surprises you. Oh, and not call me Princess in public."

"That's not it." He wanted to pretend the possibility didn't exist, but he also wanted to guard his own neck from all dangers, and the way his father had acted at being left behind was a danger signal. "I don't want to be in the middle of something between you and my father."

She skidded to a stop in the grass and faced him with a blank mask of an expression, triggering his alarm bells. "What do you think is between your father and me?"

_And Glitch complains that DG wasn't learning any diplomacy._ Jeb downplayed his suspicions, but continued with the point he wanted to stress. "I don't want to be in the middle if you two are fighting."

She relaxed and started for the cottage again. "We're not fighting. He's always a cranky paranoid and I don't have time to humor him. With any luck, he'll put the fear of the revolver into the Council and they won't argue with me for hours unending when we get back."

"You've never left him behind before."

"Oh so we must be fighting? Mentioning the Other Side makes your father twitchy." DG spun around and pantomimed Wyatt Cain in hyper-vigilant mode, including fingers wrapped around an imaginary holstered gun. Jeb grinned despite wanting to keep the conversation serious. "The only people that trigger happy here are soldiers in combat and criminals."

They reached the cottage and she dropped to her knees beside the steps up to the porch. Her hands disappeared into the scraggly remains of a flowerbed and the overgrown grass. Jeb figured it was probably best to spit it out while she was distracted. "Do you love my father?"

She reared back and her guilty expression was answer enough before she hid it away. "We're friends, Jeb. He has never... I sure haven't... Your mother..."

"I'm not interfering, disapproving, cutting off all ties with my father, or whatever it is you're afraid of." He ran his hand through his hair. This wouldn't be so hard if she didn't look terrified. "I just wanted you to know it's okay. With me."

She turned back to whatever she was hunting for. "I'm glad my unrequited feelings for your father are fine by you. Now can we never talk about it again?"

"Unrequited?"

"He is still married to your mother." She pulled out a rock that opened, depositing a key into her hand. "Now let's get this mission started."


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Solid. Margo Whitney is an OC first featured in _Biker Mice From Mars: Evil Jack: In Sickness_, and this is the most she is showing up in this story.  
><strong><br>**

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>

** Part Four**

DG took a deep breath as she stared at her cellphone charged and put on an unlimited everything plan with magic. Jeb was safely occupied, picking clothes out of a catalog. The signal was fine, so she was out of excuses. She pulled up the name on her contact list and dialed.

"This is Margo, how can I do you?"

Despite her nervousness, DG laughed. "You can't do me until you grow a penis."

"DG? DG! They said you were DEAD!" DG returned the cellphone to her ear and Margo was still talking. "If this is one of those phone calls from the Great Beyond, hold on while I record it."

"I'm not dead. I... I moved."

"Dropped off the planet more like it. Nobody has heard from you in forever." A machine beeped for Margo's attention. She juggled something before coming back. "You weren't abducted by smelly, fishy aliens, were you?"

DG's brow wrinkled. "No, and I thought they were grey with big heads."

"Not in Chicago." Margo laughed. "So spill, what happened?"

She fiddled with the pen resting on the table. "Turns out I was adopted—"

"I knew it!"

"And we were political refugees. My birth parents are part of the government of our home country and they wanted to meet me once the civil war was over, so I moved there to be closer to them and to help."

"You better bring lots of pictures to the next class reunion."

Relief washed over DG. Margo was still a tangent heading in the opposite direction, but she had forgiven DG. "I wish I could visit and tell you everything, but I'm back in the States on a mission."

"Lay it on me, Elwood."

"The civil war destroyed the medical community and I think a plague has broken out."

Margo clicked computer keys on her end. "That sounds ominously Biblical. What are the symptoms?"

"A hundred people in one town came down with a fever that led to them drowning on their blood and within days fifty were dead."

"Geez, you just got above my paygrade." Margo's inhale rattled over the speaker. "Over my hospital's paygrade too."

DG closed her eyes. Margo Whitney was the only person she knew in the medical field. "Don't suppose you dated somebody who works for the CDC?"

"You don't want the CDC. They're all lock you up in our hospital. Which is fine when it's one person with tuberculosis; bad for the numbers you're talking about." DG heard snapping fingers. "You want Dr. Yummy."

"I'm taking notes. Is that his name?"

"No, Dr. Stephen Connor from N.I.H., National Institutes of Health. I got dragged to a lecture he gave and came away wishing I'd come down with something he'd need to examine."

"So how does this good-looking doctor help me, Margo?"

She yelled something at a coworker. "He heads up a team of medics who investigate serious outbreaks and they make house calls. At the lecture, somebody brought up a recent earthquake in Mexico; they were on the ground for that, so probably not uptight 'bout leaving the country. Where did I put that conference bulletin?" Something sounding like a large book fell onto the floor. "He's stationed at the main campus in Bethesda, Maryland."

DG felt like she could breathe again. "Margo, I could kiss you."

"Not if you've been close to that bug. Ack, boss man cometh. Give me an update when you can Toots, and I'll tell you all about Chi'town."

"Deal. And thank you."

"We're solid, girlfriend. Bye."


	5. Chapter 5

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Government

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>

**Part Five**

Dr. Stephen Connor signed the final requisition form in the pile. The last hold the office had on him before the weekend. He glanced at his son, head bent over an electronic game. They had been spending more time together since his promise made during the Colima assignment, but this was the first trip out of N.I.H.'s clutches. Jack had been patient with half the day spent in the office because of the paperwork, but he would be more than ready to leave now. They would miss rush hour traffic too if he took an early exit. Connor opened his mouth to tell Jack to pack up his game when the phone on his desk rang. "Connor."

"Doctor, you have some visitors for a consultation."

Connor glared at the clock, but he was still on N.I.H. time and agreed to see them. His son's eyes bored into him when he hung up the phone. "I have to take a meeting before we can get out of here. Come on."

"We are still going camping, right?" Jack followed him into the hallway between offices, their laboratory, and conference room.

He tousled his suspicious son's brown hair. "Yes, and your old man will try to teach you how to fish."

Frank looked up from his computer. "Just be sure to have the first aid kit handy so he can stitch himself up when he shows you how not to put a hook through your thumb."

"Very funny. I have a meeting; can Jack stay with you?"

His bearded colleague and friend nodded, then directed his attention to Jack. "I got some state quarters for you. Your dad says you're collecting them."

Connor left them and met the opening elevator doors. They were a couple of college-age kids, dressed in suits to practice being grown-ups, which they needed more of because they both gaped at him. The boy with curly dark-blond hair stammered, "Dad?"

"I don't think so, I was more careful during my college days."

The girl with long, dark hair and wide, blue eyes giggled. "Sorry, but you and his father, wow, could have been separated at birth. We're here to see Dr. Connor."

"I'm Dr. Connor. My office is this way, Miss?"

"DG Gale and this is Jeb Cain." They followed him back to his glass-walled office. "We really appreciate you seeing us, especially this late on a Friday."

"And I hope the case you have won't interfere with my weekend plans." He moved behind his desk. "Do you have a case file?"

Miss Gale pulled a slim black notebook out of her shoulder bag and passed it across the desk. It was handwritten in a neat script, not typed. _People first come down with a fever, dry cough, and runny noses and complain of headaches, sore throats, and muscle pain. Sounds like the flu, but the day after the fever starts the cough starts bringing up bloody mucus. On the day after that, the skin starts bruising. After that, the patient dies. Older and younger people are holding out longer than young adults and teenagers. Fifty-six villagers of Neverdale were dead when the government team of fifteen people arrived three days after Neverdale sent for help. Members of that group developed the fever two days later. Six soldiers were sent in to replace the sick guards before quarantine was established to keep everyone in Neverdale and everyone else out._ He frowned. "This wasn't put together by medical professionals."

"No, it wasn't." His glare pulled further explanation from Miss Gale. "You see, our country is recovering from a civil war. The former regime targeted the medical community; if you didn't work for them, you had to run or be executed. When we won, the doctors on the regime's side did a Jonestown." She shrugged, "They made Mengele look like a great humanitarian. But all we have are midwives and battlefield surgeons."

"Neverdale's midwife was one of the first ones who died," Mr. Cain said. "The Army surgeon." He paused after, like he was unsure of his pronunciation. "Was part of the third group in and caught the illness."

Connor frowned at the scant details in front of him. While he preferred gathering his facts unhindered by conclusions drawn by others, the only conclusion here was lots of people dying. And they wanted him to help stop it. "You need a first diagnosis before you can get a second opinion."

Miss Gale frowned right back. "And I told you why the notes are not up to any standards. I'm trying to get my people help before this outbreak escapes the quarantine we set up and without wasting time on governmental red tape."

He thumped the notebook on his desk. "If these numbers are accurate, it would already be news here, no matter where your country is. So what are you really after?"

Mr. Cain shifted nervously in his seat. Miss Gale didn't flinch however. "I need a doctor who can cure my people or," she swallowed, "keep this illness from spreading."

"DG, your—"

She spoke faster to override her companion's interruption. "And why you haven't heard anything is because our country is on another planet and we use magic to get there."

Mr. Cain looked ready to bolt. Miss Gale was rigid to withstand whatever Connor would yell. Connor didn't want to waste any more time on them. "Cute, but I have to take my son camping, so you can go back to whoever set this up." He stood up behind his desk.

Miss Gale silently held out her hand. His jar of red licorice on the bookshelves behind his desk wobbled. Her forehead creased with concentration and the jar floated off the shelf. It bobbed across the room until she grabbed it, opened it, and took two sticks out. She passed one to Mr. Cain, who stared at it puzzled, then set the jar on Connor's desk. "Go ahead and check it, Dr. Connor." She sat back down and crossed her legs.

"What is this?" Mr. Cain hissed at her and waved the licorice.

Her blue eyes rolled toward the ceiling. "It's candy, Jeb." She chewed on the one she claimed for herself.

Connor picked up the jar. Nothing was different about it minus the two pieces being eaten. No strings, no magnets, but it had floated to the woman in the office. He set it back on the shelf, sat down, and stared at the pair in his office.

Miss Gale smirked, but her eyes were sympathetic. "Which part is harder, magic is real or he doesn't know what licorice is?" She jerked her thumb at her companion.

"Oh the licorice, definitely."

His sarcasm made her smile. "I can do a lot I didn't think possible with my magic, but I can't snap my fingers and heal people."

"What else are you leaving out?" Connor pressed his lips together.

Her smile faded. "My parents and sister were in the second group who went into the town. My mother had already caught it when I was told. I don't know how long my father and sister have." She tucked away her pain and looked him in the eye. "I am here begging for help, but I'm prepared to offer whatever compensation you think is fair because this situation is so unorthodox."

Connor glanced at the framed photo of Jack on his desk. So many broken promises because of other people needed his help. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You couldn't have showed up on Monday."

"You don't get to spend enough time with your son either." Miss Gale's soft voice drew his attention again. "Bring him along."

Connor raised his eyebrows.

"We'll keep him away from the sick, obviously. Heck, I'll even babysit since nobody wants me to catch it either. I can promise you no interference by the government, whatever you need we will get it. Plus whatever pay you think you deserve." She cocked her head to the side. "Even though me and my foster parents were taxpayers when we lived in Kansas."

"And you can make good on all those promises?" Connor resorted to his poker face, but had to wonder if this young woman would be able to read that too.

"I've got a little pull with the government I'm willing to exploit." Mr. Cain stifled his chuckle at her comment. She gave him a look before turning back to Connor. "Do we have a deal, Dr. Connor?"

"I have to speak with my team first. Dropping everything to go to another planet is not what they joined the N.I.H. for." He sent an email to meet in the conference room to the rest of the team, and then password-locked his computer. "We are dealing with humans, right?"

"Everyone who is sick is human," Mr. Cain answered.

Connor nodded. "Wait here then."


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Eight

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><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Six<strong>

"Let me get this straight," Frank said slowly as he leaned onto the conference table. "The visitors in your office are two humans from an alien planet who have a health crisis?"

Stephen gave a terse nod rather than repeat himself.

"Okay, when do we leave?"

Now Stephen looked contrite. "Frank, you've got a family."

"And they're visiting the rest of the family down in New Orleans. I'm free."

Natalie looked up from the notebook with what little case history they had. "You can't treat this many all by yourself, Stephen."

"You can't leave me behind; I've never been to an alien planet before," Miles added.

"No plans here," Eva said. "Looks like you're stuck with all of us, Boss."

Stephen smirked before going serious. "I want everyone on antivirals as a precaution. Miles, get doses together for the pair in my office. Now I have to tell my son about the change in plans."

"He's still in my office." They left the conference room together.

"Frank, if you've got second thoughts about this?"

"I've always trusted your BS meter. If it's convinced they're level, they're level."

Jack looked up when they entered Frank's office, shoulders slumped. "You have to go to work, don'tcha?"

Stephen knelt down in front of him. "Yeah, but I got special permission to bring you with me."

"I get to come with you?" Jack beamed. "Cool! Do we get to ride in the helicopter?"

"No, but we're going to another planet."

Jack blinked. "Dad, it's cool that you're letting me come. You don't have to throw in Mars too."

Frank ducked into the lab, so neither Connor would hear his laughter. Natalie looked up from the gear she was packing. "Jack's coming with us," he explained between chuckles.

She smiled. "Good, they need to spend more time together. Maybe seeing Stephen working will help Jack understand his father."

"Kids don't want to understand their parents. Not until they hit thirty when all the pieces fall into place." He pulled out the first sampling kit to check that it was fully stocked. They were restocked at the end of every case, but at the beginning of every case he checked again. No point in being in the field without proper gear.

"Your girls are too young for you to be so cynical," Natalie chided with a smile as she turned to her desk.

"You call cynical, I call being prepared for their teenage years."

She pulled her light brown hair into a ponytail and then shook her head. "So there are eight of us on this trip. I hope their spaceship is big enough."

Frank frowned to himself. "Nobody said anything about a spaceship." He shrugged, trusting Stephen to have handled transportation.

He and Natalie both should have known Connor was juggling too much.

"Nobody said anything about a tornado!" Frank yelled in the twilight hours. The quiet park they were in was barely visible behind the swirling mass of wind and debris.

"Too late to back out now." The young man named Cain had changed his suit in the hours since he and the young woman left N.I.H for vintage casual clothes. He also blocked any escape routes. "The Princess insisted."

Eva whipped her head around. "Princess?"

She didn't get an answer before a force snapped them off the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Coronet

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Seven<strong>

The travel storm dumped DG on her butt again, but she bounded up to count heads in the moonlight from two of the moons. She got everyone and their stuff here, so she enjoyed the thrill that went through her.

"Dad, look, two moons!" Jack bounced to his feet.

"I'll be," Frank Powell muttered.

"Actually we have three. The third one hasn't risen yet. And two suns," DG added.

Figures ran out of the trees, some on horses, all heading towards them in the clearing. Something wrong hit DG right before a bullet hit the dirt in front of her and Jeb shouted "Longcoats! Get down!"

Frank pushed Miles McCabe and Eva Rossi down while Connor flung himself over his son and Natalie Durant. Jeb took position over them, firing at the Longcoats. Defensive magic surged to DG's hands and she flung out a fireball that caught six of the approaching Longcoats.

"It's the Gale bitch!"

DG flung herself to the ground and raised a golden shield around herself, Miles, Eva, and Frank. She started to expand it to grab the Connors and Natalie, but had to shift her concentration to keeping out all the bullets pinging the golden glow. She felt the vibrations from the truck before it burst through the undergrowth, headlights dazzling, and causing the Longcoats to swarm over them as bullets from the Royal Army joined the fray.

The truck, one of the repurposed armored ones the Sorceress had built, pulled to a stop beside her shield. Glitch and Raw threw open the back doors. "DG, Jeb! Get in!" The truck blocked the bullets so DG dropped the shield and grabbed all the medical equipment bags not attached to people and floated them into the truck first. Miles hauled Eva off the ground and pushed her inside. DG took Raw's hand then turned to pull someone else in. Jeb and Frank had Connor between them, a bloody hole in his black T-shirt near the shoulder. Raw crouched over Connor as soon as they put him on the floor. Glitch grabbed the doors.

Eva picked herself off the luggage. "Natalie and Jack?"

Jeb shook his head. "Longcoats took them."

"We have to go after them!" Frank yelled above the rumble of the moving truck.

Glitch shook his head. "We have to get DG to safety first."

"We have to get them back," DG said. "She's a doctor and Jack's a child!"

Raw roared, putting all the attention on him. "Bullet must come out first!"

Miles dropped to Connor's side and tried to probe the wound. "We have to stop."

"Dad's driving?" Glitch answered Jeb's question with a nod. They both looked at DG as the only one who could reason with Wyatt Cain in full paranoid mode.

She huffed, sat on the floor, and put both hands on the floor of the truck. Her magic surged underneath, lifting the truck into the air. "Hurry!"

Miles jerked his bag off his back while Frank and Jeb held Connor down.

"Make her put us down NOW!" Cain roared from the cab.

"Can't, emergency surgery," Glitch shouted back.

No one couldn't make out what Cain grumbled, but the acceleration of the truck slacked off.

"No time for that." Raw pulled something from Miles' gloved hand. "DG drains out, truck falls down. Get bullet and clean wound."

"Without anesthesia!" Miles yelped.

"Think about all the times Connor yelled at you," Eva suggested.

"Still not right." But Miles grabbed a probe.

DG closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping the truck up and still. Sweat rolled down her temples. She blocked out Connor's sounds of pain that panged her heart. She had to keep the truck still.

"Got it! Eva, flush the wound."

"All the fibers out?" Jeb asked.

"Yeah, hey what are you doing!"

"Hang on tight," Jeb said. "This part always hurts."

Connor screamed as Raw's talents knit his muscles and skin back together.

Glitch grabbed her shoulder. "DG, put us down. Raw has him."

She eased the truck down to the ground. As soon as the tires made contact, Cain shifted the gears and started them moving. She opened her eyes and accepted a canteen from Glitch. "What the hell, Glitch? This is paranoid even for you guys."

Glitch looked at the floor. "We have to protect the Queen."

They didn't have time for this royal pomp and protocol. She took a deep breath so she wouldn't scream at one of her best friends. "That's half the reason we surrounded Neverdale with soldiers. Now we need to get there and help the hostages."

"Not until you're safe." DG felt her stomach drop away. Glitch's blood-shot eyes met hers. "I'm sorry, DG, but your mother—" His brown eyes welled up again. "You are the Queen of the Outer Zone now."

Connor stopped screaming and DG felt like starting. "Queen Galinda is dead?" Jeb demanded.

"Yes," Raw answered.

Glitch started babbling about her loss of magic or the annuals of imprisonment weakening her, but DG couldn't hear him past the roaring in her ears. She pushed away from them and conquered the swaying of the truck to climb into the cab.

Cain glanced at her as she dropped into the empty passenger seat. "It's safer in the back."

"Is it true?" She curled her arms around her knees.

"Yes." She watched his jaw spasm while he searched for what to say. "Your sister and father are still not sick."

"For now." She closed her eyes as a wave of failure crashed over her.

Jeb poked his head into the cab between the seats. "We can't go to Central City. The doctors have to go to the sick and we have to go after the Longcoats."

Cain's jaw hardened. "She is **not** hunting Longcoats."

"I'm not going to Central City!" DG yelled.

Eva Rossi stuck her head inside the cab next to Jeb. "We have two outbreaks?"

"Dad, Nevedale is closer. We can send troops after the Longcoats from there."

"To rescue Natalie and Jack?" Eva focused on DG, the one in a front seat she could see clearly.

"This isn't under discussion!" Cain growled.

"You're right because you are going to listen to your son, Wyatt Cain!" DG balled up her fists. "Take this truck to Neverdale or I'm dumping your ass out and taking it myself!"

The truck screeched to a halt so Wyatt Cain could turn his icy glare on her. Jeb ducked and Eva's eyes eclipsed her face before Jeb pulled her into the rear of the truck. DG felt her magic wrap around her like a warm blanket and knew she was glowing.

"Yes, your Majesty," he spat it out before working the gears and turned the truck around.

The words struck DG harder than a slap to the face. Her glow snuffed out and she curled up into a ball again. She didn't want the crown if it meant Cain was furious with her. She squeezed her legs tighter. There was no one else. The people would never accept Az, even if DG thought her traumatized sister could handle the stress of ruling. No, it was all up to DG, who attracted failure more than she did trouble. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the threatening tears in. Shouldn't there be more fanfare when a coronet was traded for a crown?


	8. Chapter 8

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Symbol

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Eight<strong>

Jack Connor gripped the saddle he was slung over with one hand. His other hand worked another quarter out of the roll Frank had given him earlier when they were still at N.I.H. It dropped onto the ground and Jack started silently counting to one hundred before dropping the next one.

Natalie was on another horse, so at least they were being kidnapped to the same place. He didn't want to think about the look on her face as she tackled the man with the gun. Dad's job was dangerous—one of the few things both his parents agreed on—but he thought it was from catching a deadly disease, not people shooting at them.

His hands and the ground below blurred. He squeezed his eyes shut. Dad fell back, twisting when the bullet hit him. The men in the black trenchcoats laughed, saying they got Cain. Jack blinked his eyes and dropped another quarter.

Dad would find them or would send someone to find them. And if the worst had happened, the quarters would lead the police to who shot Dad.

The group that had taken them traveled through forested hills. Jack was surprised by how bright three moons made everything at night. Maybe Natalie and he could escape and find their way out of this forest. Avoiding all houses made of gingerbread, he thought.

The group stopped and Jack held off dropping another quarter. Someone may see it. After the delay, they rode into a campground. The rider tipped Jack out of the saddle and into the arms of another man in a trenchcoat. "Watch him and the woman. I'm sure the General will have some questions."

The new guard shoved him across the open space to a tree and Natalie. She grabbed Jack in a hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not bleeding." He leaned against her for the hug and stuffed the remains of the quarter roll into his jeans' pocket.

She combed his hair back. "Stay close to me and don't make these men angry. Okay?"

"Sure."

Another trenchcoat-wearing man joined the one guarding them. "Come on, General Zero has some questions."

Natalie kept her arm around Jack's shoulders while they were led into a tent, large enough to stand up comfortably in. The blond man who greeted them was as tall as Dad, but his hair was longer. Maybe military haircuts weren't as strict on this planet. Jack also didn't like the appraising look he was giving Natalie while unbuckling the armor around his arm. Some of Mom's dates had looked at her like that and usually vanished after they realized she had a kid. "I'm General Zero. I hope my men weren't too rough with you, Missus?"

"Dr. Natalie Durant."

"And I'm Jack Durant."

Natalie didn't betray Jack's sudden adoption. "Why have you taken us prisoner?"

The General sat down beside a long table. "First, it was to only ask why that Gale bitch had gone to the Other Side and brought you to the Outer Zone. But now, you maybe more useful than that. What is your specialty, Dr. Durant?"

"I'm a pathologist and epidemiologist." Zero's eyebrow raised as he smirked. "I trace diseases through the affect they have on the human body. I perform autopsies to figure out cause of death."

"And how are you with cutting on living people?"

Natalie glanced around the tent. "I've worked disasters before with limited supplies, but most of my work is done in hospitals."

Zero nodded. "Why did you come here? What is the Gale bit—" He glanced at Jack, "the Crown Princess Dorothy Gale of the House of Gale up to?"

"She has sick people and no doctors. So we came to help."

"And you brought your son too. Planning to stay?" Zero leaned his elbow on the table.

"Didn't know how long it would take." She pressed her lips together tightly.

"So you'd want to do anything to keep your son safe." Zero stood up and nodded. One of the guards grabbed Jack and one grabbed Natalie pulling them apart. "Put the boy somewhere safe while the doctor sees her patients."

Jack tried to drag his feet, but the larger man just picked him up and carried him out of the tent. They stopped before they reached the ring of undergrowth. "Get the gate," the man carrying him said to another one of their group.

The other man bent over and lifted a metal grate from the ground. They dropped Jack into a dug pit and dropped the grate back over the hole. The pit was deeper than Jack was tall but he landed on his feet. The trenchcoat-wearing men walked away.

He could see the largest moon in the sky, so it wasn't as nearly as dark as a hole in the ground could be. No one had taken his camping backpack away from him either. He pulled out his windbreaker and touched his flashlight gratefully. He didn't plan on using it and get it confiscated, but at least he had it.

He zipped on his windbreaker and felt his pocket for the remains of the roll of quarters. Ten coins filled his palm. There had to be enough out there to show their rescuers the way. Had to be. But he really wished Dad was here to convince him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Bizarre

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Nine<strong>

The truck finally stopped in the army camp set up outside of Neverdale. Cain shut off the engine but didn't climb out of the driver's seat. So DG didn't move either, until her door opened and Jeb touched her arm. "Come on, you can't do debriefings in a truck."

She meekly followed Jeb to one of the larger tents and felt another wave of disapproval from Wyatt Cain. That irked her more aware. It wasn't like he was offering any suggestions himself. She sat down at a table and Jeb, his father, and Glitch stood in front of it like students before the principal. She shook that image from her mind.

"What else have we missed?" Jeb asked.

Before anyone answered him, Stephen Connor stormed into the tent with Frank on his heels. "What the hell was that ambush?"

Cain's gun was pointed at the two men before he blinked and glared at DG. "You made him look like me!"

"Forget last Halloween's accident with the face paint, Cowboy Stephen is the most bizarre sight I have ever seen." Frank bit his bottom lip to keep his mirth contained.

DG took a deep breath. Her mother would calm everyone down, take charge, find out what had changed, and give people orders based on the new information. She could do that. "I didn't do any magic on him, Cain. Put your gun away." Cain did so with a scowl. "This is Dr. Stephen Connor and Frank Powell both from N.I.H. to help us with the illness. Quickdraw is Wyatt Cain, Jeb's father. And that's Glitch." Glitch waved at the new Slippers.

"He has a zipper in his head," Frank said.

Glitch sighed. "They're alchemists, all right. Always focused on the zipper."

Connor slapped the table. "Where are Jack and Natalie?"

"We're trying to find out," DG said in an even voice. He had just lost his son after all. "Was it a random attack or do they know?"

"More than random," Glitch answered. "They had to know something was up the way the Council ran here like headless jackdaws. But no one knows about the succession except the Council and they're all sitting tight at Baron Colfer's manor where we moved the sick."

"Moved the sick? You said it was isolated to one town that you had quarantined!" Connor's blue eyes narrowed.

"You have Baron Colfer to thank for that." Cain still had his hand wrapped around the butt of his holstered gun. "He had to see the Queen's body after we told him not to go in Neverdale and he ran home when he started feeling bad."

"And you didn't shoot him?" Jeb asked.

"He waited until the rest of the Council was hounding me over the location of the heir to the throne."

"Azkadellia and your nurture units said the manor would be easier to care for the sick," Glitch said. "And it's near Tenniken on the Brick Route so supplies would get there easier."

"Or the outbreak can become an epidemic!" Connor snapped.

"Either way, the Longcoats couldn't miss all that activity." Jeb shook his head.

"And you put a travel storm down right in the middle of them." Cain glared at DG again.

"You know that wasn't part of the plan," she retorted.

"I'm going after my son and Natalie! Where are these Longcaots?"

"A fighting alchemist?" Glitch smirked.

Connor didn't find it amusing. "I was a Captain in the United States Army. Your rebels don't scare me."

"Those Longcoats are why you are not safe here, DG. You need to go back to Central City." Cain was back to harping on that again.

DG covered her face with her hand. Connor just wanted his son and coworker back, and it was her fault Jack was in danger. Cain's paranoia was getting the better of him and he would shoot somebody eventually. And she moved too slowly to save her mother.

"They are the side who lost in our civil war." Jeb was trying to keep things reasonable. She should probably promote him for the effort. "But they are a trained military force."

"Who want DG's head on a pike!" Cain growled.

"So you want to sacrifice my son and my... coworker while you hide your leader, who didn't tell us she is the government?"

"Would you have believed her if she had?" Jeb's voice got sharper.

"I wasn't given the chance! Instead I believed her—"

DG's hand slammed on the table and the chair fell over with how fast she shot out of it. "Everybody with blue eyes stop yelling at me!" Two icy stares for the price of one, so she pointed to Connor first. "Did you miss the part where I told you we have no doctors? I don't care if you were Ranger, Marine, or Green Beret trained, you are not going Longcoat hunting!"

Connor's glare gained a scowl, but he remained silent. Frank's stare was wide-eyed.

"Captain Cain, Dr. Durant and Jack Connor have both met you, so you're the best choice to lead the rescue."

"Yes, your Majesty." At least Jeb didn't hurl it like an insult. "Prisoners?"

So many were dead already and now the fate of more was in her hands. "Use your best judgment. The most important thing is getting the hostages back safely." Jeb nodded, so she turned to the growing thundercloud of anger disguised as his father. "We are going to Tenniken. Work with your son to best divide the men."

"You need to leave some here to keep the town quarantined until we find the source." Connor sounded like he was under control again.

Wyatt Cain still stared at her stonily, but she was not going to quail before it. "And if you mention Central City one more time, I will shoot you with your gun." His expression didn't change as he turned on his heel and marched out of the tent. DG swallowed hard.

"He'll thaw out," Jeb predicated. "Once things have settled down a bit."

DG didn't know if she believed that, so she blurted out what truth she was positive of. "For God's sake, come back in one piece, Jeb, or he'll never forgive me!"

"Of course, he will. He always forgives you." Jeb shifted aside the canvas door and stepped outside.

Frank pulled Connor out, so it was only her and Glitch. "Now that's all settled, the Council—"

"No Council! I can't deal with those idiots right now. I'll deal with them first thing after first sunrise tomorrow if I can just be left alone until we leave. Please, Glitch?"

He smiled softly. "Of course doll. I'll keep 'em out." He ducked out of the tent and she was finally alone.

She picked the chair up and sat in it. So much for following her mother's example; she couldn't even have a meeting without shouting at everyone. She covered her face with both hands, but the sobs still leaked out.


	10. Chapter 10

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Mythic

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Ten<strong>

General Zero had watched her dig out bullets and stitch up the six men still breathing in the infirmary tent. Then they had given her two portions of jerky, dragged her to a grated hole beyond the tents, and dropped her into it. She landed on her feet mostly, then crashed against the dirt wall when she lost her balance. But the jerky didn't hit the ground.

"Natalie?" Jack pulled her upright with a hug. "Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Did they hurt you?" He shook his head before letting her go. "This is supper, I guess." She handed him a jerky portion.

They sat down with their backs against the wall so they could watch if the grate would open. "Smores was too much to hope for." Jack started chewing. "They kept you a long time to not hurt you."

"They had men who I had to treat." She chewed off some of her jerky.

Jack vibrated, but pulled his voice down to a whisper. "They kidnapped us and hurt Dad and you're fixing them!"

"I'm a doctor and I can't choose sides when someone needs help. You should ask your father just how much trouble it has gotten him into. Besides if I hadn't, they would have hurt us."

He accepted her arm wrapped around his shoulders. "Dad doesn't talk about work."

Natalie winced. "He doesn't?"

"I know he gets called in when other doctors don't know what to do and we're all in danger of catching it. Mom said once that everybody dying was more important than his living family. Does Dad like his job? Is that why he doesn't want to talk about it?"

Did Stephen honestly think his son would never notice? "It's kinds of like school for you; there's parts you like and parts you don't." And your father is a brooder who feels every loss, no, that was something for Stephen to share. If he still could.

No, she wasn't thinking about that gunshot.

Jack scuffled his shoe in the dirt. "Sometimes when he calls, it sounds like he's making himself sound happy."

Natalie squeezed him. "It's hard, doing what we do, fighting time and microscopic infectious organisms to make people better, and watching as our best efforts don't always work. But none of that is more important than you are to your father. He doesn't want to scare you or make you sad about our work."

"It's less scary when you know."

"Yes, it is." Natalie hadn't been much older than Jack when she lost her mother. She'd bet Frank a steak dinner with a bottle of wine that Stephen had never told Jack about Therese either. Did Lisa even know? That was a story to share only if Stephen couldn't. "Would you like me to tell you about one of our cases?"

Jack leaned against her, pulling his hands into the sleeves of his windbreaker. "Sure."

She thought over the cases their team had faced. Jack didn't need a story that had his father in serious danger and Stephen didn't need a story that added to the myth he was a modern Asclepius. "We got called into a hospital in Montana. A family of campers had been brought in, three of them presenting with a red rash that was swelling into bumps and a fever, except the youngest, a little girl named Brooke. She was the one who got help when her parents got sick." She continued on with the case, and all the wrong theories they had from a toxic mold infection to the bioterrorism fear.

"My dad tackled a meth dealer." He covered his mouth so his giggles wouldn't carry.

"Agent Maloney was very impressed."

"Dad played football in college." The boy snuggled closer. "He's looking for us, right?"

"As hard as he looks for infectious organisms." Natalie looked up at the sky and hoped she hadn't lied to him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Sharp

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Eleven<strong>

The ringing of the go-between woke Azkadellia up. She had fallen asleep in the small study they had made into a communications room when they took over this wing of Baron Colfer's home. She reached out for the still-ringing instrument. "Hello?"

"Az, what are you still doing up? You need to sleep too."

"Where have you been, DG!" The force of her words shot Azkadellia to her feet. "I've had to deal with a paranoid Council, newly ill, Mother." She chocked up and couldn't yell any more.

"I went to the Other Side and got some doctors to figure out what's wrong."

Azkadellia's voice returned, but her crazy sister's actions drove words right out of her head. **"You did what!"**

"Not now, Az! You can chew me out all you want after everyone is better. But right now, the doctors need to get started and I'm counting on you and Hank and Emily to help them. Whatever they need they can have, okay?"

DG was now Queen. Az took a deep breath. "Of course, I'll do that."

"Thanks, Az. Now I'm going to find my bed in this place. You get them started and spend some time in yours or I'll tell them to sedate you. I love you and give my love to everyone else."

"I love you too." Az set down the go-between instrument. Obviously she and her sister needed to have a long talk about DG risking her neck now. She heard a commotion in the hall and rushed to the doors separating this wing from the rest of the house. Hank was keeping someone from opening them with one hand lodged against the wood. "It's okay. DG got doctors from the Other Side."

The white-haired tiktok gazed at her suspiciously as he took his hand off the door. "She did what?"

"Got us from Earth." Two men pushed their way inside and shut the massive doors behind them.

Azkadellia gasped. "Mr. Cain, you shouldn't be in here! What if you catch it too?" DG's Tin Man was dressed differently in a tight shirt and slightly less tight trousers. DG couldn't lose Wyatt Cain too, but why was he looking so annoyed at her for saying so?

He sighed out his annoyance. "I guess I better get used to that. I'm Doctor Stephen Connor, and Mr. Cain and I only look alike. This is Doctor Miles McCabe."

The younger brown-haired man had a nice smile. "You must be Azkadellia."

She nodded. The doppelganger situation wasn't helping her sense of everything falling apart.

"Where did DG dig you fellows up at?" Hank examined the pair with more curiosity than suspicion now.

"We're from the National Institutes of Health," Connor answered.

"Not the ones who locked up Lieutenant Dan then, good."

Azkadellia jumped back in as the doctors exchanged looks. "DG said we were to help you with whatever you needed."

Connor turned back to her. "How many patients do we have now?"

"Fifty-six. My father and I still haven't developed a fever or a cough. The twenty-five left from Neverdale are the worst off. Six tiktoks to minister. Eleven from Baron Colfer's household, including himself." Azkadellia closed her eyes. "Is it wrong to be thankful Baron Colfer didn't run to a more populated town?"

"We're all grateful for that right now." She opened her eyes to see a softer expression on Connor's face. Cain typically reserved that expression for DG or his son. "Miles, start examining the patients. I'll start with the dead."

"The dead?" Azkadellia looked at Hank.

The nurture unit shook his head. "Queen Galinda is the only body we kept. There wasn't enough healthy hands to dig graves in Neverdale, so the Princess cremated them with her magic."

Before the disapproval could be made manifest, she added, "I put the remains in silver urns with their names engraved. They deserved some dignity." Tears pricked her eyes.

"It's done." Connor turned to Miles. "See which patients are capable of interviews so we can track down Patient Zero."

"Zero?" She jolted at the name.

"That's what we call the first one to get sick," Miles explained.

"We put everyone upstairs," Hank said. "Follow me."

Connor turned to Azkadellia as Miles left with Hank. "I will have to do an autopsy on your mother. Knowing how this disease is killing people helps us figure out how to fight it."

She didn't know what an autopsy was but DG said they were to have everything they needed. "This way." The wide hall ended in the manor's kitchen. Emily and another tiktok were working on the next batch of soup for those who could keep food down. DG's maternal nurture unit spotted them and hurried over. Azkadellia moved into introductions since being misidentified upset the doctor. "Emily, this is Doctor Stephen Connor. He only looks likes Mr. Cain. He needs to examine Mother."

"I figured that's where DG had gone, especially since her cohorts didn't want to say." She shook her head. "Maybe you will have better luck coaxing your father out."

"He's still in the freezer?" Azkadellia hurried across the kitchen to the large metal door.

"I finally got him to take a blanket," Emily called after her.

She wrestled the door open. The freezer's dim lights showed Father perched on a stool next to the table she had made for Mother's body. The silken blanket was draped over his shoulder, but inertia held it there. He continued to stare at Mother's composed face. "Father, please come to bed. This does you no good."

"I'm not leaving her again!" Ahamo snarled and Azkadellia jerked her hand away from him. "You separated us for fifteen years and now you want to do it again."

She stopped herself from wailing _it wasn't me, it was the witch!_ She needed to be stern, that usually worked for Mother. "Father, come out now. DG found doctors and he needs to autopsy Mother."

Ahamo twisted off the stool and the blanket fluttered to the ground. "How much more are you going to put her through! Bad enough you tore the country apart, now you want to gut your mother like a fish!"

Azkadellia gasped. Ahamo had never shouted at her like this. "DG said—"

"Of course she doesn't care; we're not her parents! And you're listening to her again, just like always. Had to go into the cave, have to carve up your mother. Just stay away from her!"

She blinked away the tears from her eyes. "Daddy." Ahamo turned back to Mother's corpse. She scooped up the blanket and steeled herself. "This has to be done."

"What's a little more vivisection on your record?" He spat. "At least you waited until she was dead."

"That's enough." Connor moved from behind Azkadellia and seized Ahamo's arm.

The thinner man couldn't shake off the grip. "Extending your gallant protection to both my daughters now, Cain?"

"If I must," Connor said in Cain's softly dangerous tone. "Your grief is no excuse to tear into your daughter like that."

Emily took the blanket from Azkadellia and wrapped it around Ahamo's shoulders, effectively gripping the former Consort as well. "What would your wife say, your Highness? Come along now." Connor let Ahamo go and Emily led him out of the freezer.

Azkadellia didn't move. She expected the people to feel that way, most of Neverdale's older sick had been vocal in laying blame on her. But her father? He felt the same? She jumped with a hand grazed her arm.

Connor looked sympathetic. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, realizing wiping her face would just draw attention to it. "My father is grieving hard, I... I apologize on his behalf."

"He didn't give consent for the autopsy."

She took a deep breath. "His consent isn't necessary. DG is queen now and she already decreed it." He nodded, showing that he heard her, but his gaze scanned the freezer. "But our mother deserves a state funeral and our customs-" She faltered when he swiveled his very Cain-like stare on her. "The people can't know she was cut up!"

"I'm sorry to put you through this, but the only way to know how she died is by going in and looking. I promise to stitch her up so only the ones who dress her for the funeral will know."

She tried to smile to accept his apology, but it felt more like a grimace. "Is there anything else you require?"

He glanced around the freezer again. "A real post-mortem examination room."

His Slipperisms made DG's comprehensible. She set her hand on his arm. "Close your eyes and picture what you need." His brow furrowed in confusion but he did as she said. Her magic dipped into his memories and wants, and shifted the freezer contents to match his expectations. The wooden table Mother rested on turned to metal. The light changed to one that could be focused onto it. She didn't concentrate on the supplies conjured next to the table beyond making them solid. "Does this suit your needs?"

Connor blinked before looking at her in shock. "And I thought your sister creating a paper trail for our disappearance was impressive."

"If there's nothing further you require, I'll stand guard to ensure you are not disturbed." She didn't stay for his reply, shut the freezer door almost completely, and slid against the wall beside it until she sat on the floor. Most undignified for a princess, but she was hidden from the working tiktoks and free to deal with her father's sharp, stabbing words. She let the tears slide down her cheeks.


	12. Chapter 12

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Data

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twelve<strong>

Connor sighed deeply as the door shut behind the Princess. They would need to examine her and determine if she was truly free of the illness of merely hiding the symptoms to take care of everyone else before herself. Add it to the list. He picked up the gloves. This would be his first solo autopsy in a long time. Natalie had taken them over without complaint.

His throat tightened. Natalie took so much without complaint, especially from him. She had once said that Frank would follow him into hell. The whole team would, cheerfully saying they understood the risks. The risks weren't supposed to include kidnapping by hostile forces.

_But it's perfectly fine for Stephen Connor to be taken prisoner by rebels._ He could almost hear her sarcasm over his hypocrisy. She would take care of Jack until help arrived.

Jack, he had failed to keep Jack safe. Connor closed his eyes against that pain. He didn't think he could cope with losing Jack too. He had to trust that the wet-behind-the-ears kid—younger than Miles—actually knew what he was doing. He shook his head and sent a silent plea to St. Barbara to watch over his family with a plea to St. Michael to help the younger Cain for good measure. Then he picked up the face mask and turned his full attention to the cadaver.

* * *

><p>Connor was carefully stitching the cadaver closed when Miles spoke from the doorway. "Need any help?"<p>

"About finished. You saw all the patients?"

"And helped put a passed-out princess to bed. You've been in here a while."

Connor tied off the last stitch and covered the body. "Let me clean up and we'll find Frank and Eva."

A small room in the main hall of the manor house and right beside the doors leading into the wing of the sick had been commandeered as their conference room and lab. Frank sat at one of the portable microscopes, marking samples. Eva had pulled chairs and sofas from other rooms and stretched out on a makeshift cot. She rolled over and rubbed bleary eyes. "Meeting?"

"Yeah." He perched on the arms of one of the more solid looking sofas. "What do we know?"

Miles set a case of filled test tubes on the table next to the microscopes. "Whatever this is, it's going through the patients fast with a high mortality rate. There's only twenty-seven villagers left since they first started getting sick in Neverdale ten days ago."

Frank swiveled on his stool to face Connor. "This house is clean and according to the butler, the only staff who got sick had direct contact with their sick boss or roomed with those who did."

Connor pursed his lips. "That's sounding more viral than bacterial. In the morning, will put everyone on antivirals, especially the not sick in this house."

Eva perked. "I can organize that."

"No, I want you and Frank to go back to Neverdale and find the source."

"Stephen, you expect us to swipe down a whole town?" Frank sighed. "How much are we getting paid again?"

"One of the villagers said that a trader moved into the boarding house before the outbreak," Miles said. "He was one of the first ones to die, so he might be patient zero."

Connor waved toward the door. "They set us up with bedrooms. You two go get some sleep. Miles, let's get started on the tests."


	13. Chapter 13

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Heat

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirteen<strong>

Underneath the all-pervasive fear, Raw saw other emotions. Grief for the former Queen, distrust over Azkadellia's intentions, annoyance with DG's decisions—that one was overwhelming among the men of the Council and the Viewer accepted the task of finding DG for Glitch to escape it.

Two soldiers stood guard outside the bedroom DG had picked out last night. Raw knocked on the door and entered after DG gave permission. She sat on a couch, staring at nothing. The bed looked undisturbed. She made an effort to douse her sadness and anxiety as she turned to Raw. "Has something happened?"

"Glitch needs DG for Council meeting."

She groaned and covered her face with her hands. "I should have sent them Longcoat hunting."

"Not a good strategy to stop Longcoats." Raw tilted his head while seeing her reluctance to go to the meeting. "DG not afraid of Council?"

"I liked dealing with them better when I knew Cain would shoot them if I asked."

"Cain do anything for DG."

Her anxiety increased and she looked away. "He won't now. I haven't seen him since we got here." Her sadness, self-doubt, and loneliness sharpened.

Raw had hoped a good night's sleep would return the Tin Man's equilibrium. Not according to DG. "Things changed too fast for Cain."

DG's laugh was bitter. "Things changed too fast for me. What do I do?"

"One thing at once." The Viewer tugged her off the couch and onto her feet before hugging her. "First Council."

She hid her face against his chest. "They hate me, Raw."

"No, mostly worry. DG make Council trust her. Be better once Council learns DG just wants to make O.Z. whole." DG's confidence rose, so he gently pushed her to the door. "Glitch waiting."

Once DG and her guards were on their way to the library, Raw found Cain in the Steward of the manor's office giving orders to one of the soldiers. "Go deliver that." He shooed the soldier out and turned to Raw. "What's wrong now?"

Raw shut the door. Cain was masking his emotions and he would have to jar them loose in order to see them. "DG needs you."

Cain's short bark of laughter was bitter too. "You read her wrong, Fuzzball. She's made it clear she doesn't need me." Rejection fueled this bitterness along with shame that he felt rejected. "She trusts my son now."

"Because Cain trusts Jeb."

"Yeah, I should be happy for them."

The Viewer finally understood why DG often hit her forehead when Cain's remark made him copy the gesture. How could two people even without Viewer abilities deny the heat between themselves that everyone else saw? "Jeb family for DG for Cain's sake. Cain knows this."

Cain winced. "She hasn't listened to me since she got back. She didn't want me on the Other Side, so why do you think she wants me at her side?"

"DG wants no one else!" Raw slapped the desk Cain sat behind. "DG protects Cain so she never loses you. But Cain leaves DG anyway. How can DG rule if she loses what matters most?"

Cain shook his head. "Protecting me?"

"DG always does." Raw crossed his arms. "Go tell DG you are friends still."

"Raw."

"Library now. DG needs you!" The chair finally scraped back and the door slammed shut behind the human man. Raw let out his breath. He didn't know what he would have said if Cain decided to continue with the stubbornness.


	14. Chapter 14

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Support

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Fourteen<strong>

Cain faltered at the guarded library doors. A deep bass voice rolled through the doors. "It may be a common procedure on the Other Side, but it is not here. To put your mother through it is shameful!"

DG matched his volume. "My mother always put everyone ahead of herself. She would have gladly volunteered for the chance it could help her ill subjects!"

He shouldn't have doubted Raw. DG didn't need this second guessing with everything else going on. He nodded to the guards and thrust open the doors. Four heads turned in his direction, but the only face he concentrated on was DG's at the head of the table. She hadn't slept was all over her pale face. Her blue eyes widened as she stared across the room at him.

"You can't just barge into a Council meeting!" said one of the seated lords.

"Wyatt Cain is a trusted Royal Advisor," Glitch retorted. "He has as much right to be in this meeting as you do, Count Begon."

DG's blue eyes never left Cain's face. "What's wrong now?"

"Nothing." His ears burned, but he continued walking until he knelt next to DG's chair. "Nothing's wrong. I just needed to tell you I'm still here. You have my support."

She stared at him without blinking, then launched herself out of the chair. He wrapped his arms around her as she hugged him and hid her face from the Council. Her breathing was shaky.

"You always will, DG. Now let's get through this meeting." Cain whispered into her ear.

She nodded and let go, returned to her chair. "Sorry. Where were we?"

Cain squeezed a chair next to DG's, straddling the corner of the table. Lord Vandervort barely scooted down to make room before broaching a new subject. "These Other Side alchemists do know they must report to the Council?"

"They'll report to me," DG said. "They're working right now, so I'll check in with them after this meeting."

"You can assign that task to anyone, you Majesty," Count Roundtree said.

"I'm the one who brought them here, and they'll be more comfortable talking to me."

Glitch grinned. "Course, if you want to deal with Cain's identical twin alchemist?" His brown eyes caught Cain's and he winked. "Connor's preference seems to be scalpels instead of bullets."

Count Roundtree tugged his collar. "I only wanted to ensure her Majesty knows that she doesn't have to oversee everything personally."

Cain smirked, but didn't say anything.

"I believe we've covered everything but your coronation and your mother's funeral." Count Begon shuffled the papers in front of him. "Assuming her body is in any condition for a state funeral."

DG winced, but Glitch spoke before she could say anything. "It's probably best for you to make a list of the proper itinerary so her Majesty can decide what would be the best tribute to her mother and for the state of the realm."

"That's a good idea. I'd rather wait until this health crisis is over." DG glanced at Cain and he gave her a slight nod. A party, even a funeral party, when people are dying would be a bad start.

"But we have to give Prince Gilliam an answer for when we can announce his courtship," Count Roundtree said. "We wouldn't want to combine that with your coronation, so your mother's funeral is the only time to make that announcement and he must know when it—" He stopped when he saw DG's disgusted frown.

"He wants to hook up at my mother's funeral? You're telling me that it's okay to turn a funeral into a date, a courtship thing?"

"Most people wouldn't," Cain answered.

Count Roundtree spluttered. "The O.Z. is in a precarious position and our Queen should marry sooner than later." Cain's hand on the table curled into a fist and Count Roundtree gulped.

"So I should just throw my standards out the window because I need to have an heir?" DG crossed her arms.

"No, of course not, your Majesty!"

"Fine, my mother's funeral will focus on my mother only. And I'm not meeting any creepy prince who would suggest anything different."

Glitch picked up his papers. "I think that's a good place to stop for the day."

The Council took their leave, but Lord Vandervort lingered. The young man ran his hand through his black hair. "I hope those scared old men haven't insulted you so badly you won't consider any suitors, your Majesty."

DG smiled. "I understand where they are coming from. But I'm not marrying just anyone with a pulse."

"Of course not. Good-day." He finally shut the door, leaving Cain and Glitch with DG.

Cain scowled at the dark wood. "I don't like him."

"Lord Vandervort?" Glitch sounded amused. "He's filling his father's position very well. He spearheaded the Central City rebuilding project, and wasn't opposed to DG's ideas on improvements." DG slumped her head onto the table with a groan. "Don't sound like that, Doll. This meeting went really well."

She twisted her head to peer up at Glitch. "You're not mad? About Mother?"

The former headcase's smile had a trace of melancholy, but mostly just sympathy. "Of course not. I trust you and besides, you're right. Galinda would have volunteered." He patted her shoulder before glancing at Cain. Cain nodded; he wasn't leaving her like this.

She twisted her head to gaze at Cain after the library doors shut behind Glitch. "Are you mad at me?"

"I think you need another hug." He stood up and tugged her out of the chair. She didn't resist, if anything, her grip tightened when he rested his chin lightly on her head. "Can't you tell when I'm just grumpy 'cause you're not safe?"

"I thought it was because I sent Jeb Longcoat hunting." Her voice was so small, but it still pierced him.

"You made the right call with that." He let her go to stare into her wan face. "What's on your agenda?"

Her nose wrinkled. "I should check on the doctors and get an update from Az before the Council decides to do that for me. And then lots of paperwork that can't be put off."

"I'll walk you to the doctors. Then I got to find somebody to go to Tenniken for supplies. And no, you can't go."

"I wasn't going to ask that." She huffed as he opened the doors.


	15. Chapter 15

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Erase

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Fifteen<strong>

Rounds this morning had been going well. Miles jotted down his observations on the last patient and hung the clipboard next to the bedroom door. The antivirals and the pain medication were alleviating the symptoms, but they were not a cure. Still any night or morning with no one dying was a good sign.

The sound of shattering glass echoed from a bedroom down the hall. "You damned witch!"

_So much for that._ Miles sprinted down the hall and pivoted into the doorway.

Azkadellia cowered near a wet spot on the wall. The broken remains of a bowl were at her feet. Baron Colfer sat up in the four poster bed, his body still heaving from the exertion. She tried to gather herself. "I'm not the witch, Baron."

"This sickness is your fault!"

"Somebody's feeling well enough to make a mess." Miles put himself between the bed and Azkadellia as he put on his stethoscope. "Do you want something else for lunch?"

"I don't want anything from the Sorceress." Colfer wheezed. "This evil of hers isn't killing us fast enough and now she will poison us!"

Miles glanced at Azkadellia. The pottery shards floated up from the floor and reassembled into a soup bowl before resting in her hands. "I am not the Sorceress and I did not make this sickness." Her chin trembled.

"You've got a virus, a nasty one, but just a virus." Miles moved closer to listen to the Baron's heart and lungs, but the older man batted his hands away. "If you want to blame someone for your illness, you should start with yourself. After all, you broke quarantine and caught the same thing everyone else had."

Colfer focused his bloodshot eyes on Azkadellia. "I had to see how she murdered her mother, Slipper. You haven't got me fooled nor the rest of the Council. We will not let you work your evil through your weak-willed sister! We will stop you, Sorceress!"

She gasped as her face paled even more, turned, and ran out of the room.

"That was uncalled for," Miles said. He turned and left the bedroom in time to see Azkadellia's skirts round the corner of the upstairs hallway. "Wait!" He rounded the corner and she had sat down on a window seat, hiding her face with her hands. He knelt down in front of her, pulling off his gloves. "Don't cry over what that jerk said."

"They all say it!" She dropped her hands and tears streaked her face. "No matter what I do, how I try, they don't believe I'm not the witch who hurt them."

"I know it's not true."

She sniffled and pulled a handkerchief from her belt. "Thank you." He sat next to her while she wiped her face. She took a deep breath. "Sometimes I wish we could erase the past. Do you ever feel that way?"

"Sometimes, usually after Dr. Connor has yelled at me." That earned a giggle. "But past mistakes are what we learn from."

"That is true. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be keeping you from your duties." She sprang up. "And I have to finish delivering lunches."

"If you need to talk, just come find me, okay?" Miles stood up. Her tentative smile was dazzling.


	16. Chapter 16

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Puzzle

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Sixteen<strong>

Frank found Neverdale picturesque with the main street running down to the lake as long as he ignored the ghost-town atmosphere. He stood on that cobblestoned-street and waited while Eva struggled with the paperwork giving the details of this small town.

"Stupid gloves," Eva muttered as she tried to flip through the papers in her hands. "The boarding house is across the street from the bank. Two doors down from the general store." The notebook finally hit the cobblestones, and Eva growled. "How can you work in this?" She gestured at the too-large biohazard suit that had been tied around her petite frame.

"Practice," Frank chuckled. "And mine fits."

"You should have let me wake up magic girl and see if she could shrink this one, but no, we had to leave right that second." Frank tried to hide his chuckle with a cough, but she wasn't fooled. "Keep it up, Powell, and you'll find out why reporters from the _New York Times_ flee my press conferences."

He pointed to a three story building with a wrap-around porch and a meager yard separating it from the neighboring buildings and street. "I think that's it." She managed to pick up the notebook, and they headed into the quiet house. The hallway was wide enough to be considered another room. A counter to display the check-in book had been built in front of a door leading into a small office. Frank didn't even need to turn a page in the book. "Ned Barterman, trader, room 201."

Eva clomped up the stairs. "Barterman, really?"

"Maybe it's a family business." 201 was the first room off the stairs, and Eva waited for him to enter first. "Something I've always been curious about. Why work for N.I.H.?"

"Me?" She smirked. "Free travel. What do you want me to do?"

He scanned the medium-sized room and pointed to a door across the room. "See if Ned left any personal items in the bathroom. I'd tell you to pick them up..."

"But you probably wouldn't get them in one piece to test."

Frank shook his head as he pulled a leather satchel out from under the bed. It was shaped like an old-fashioned doctor's bag only larger. Probably was Ned's suitcase, so he opened it to see if Ned had moved his clothes to the wardrobe next to the window. "Oh shit!"

"What is it?" Eva leaned out of the bathroom, but Frank continued staring into the bag. "Frank? What's wrong?"

He breathed deeply to make sure his hand didn't shake. He pulled the glass tube filled with a clear liquid out of the bag carefully to not jostle the black rubber stopper.

"What is in it? The disease?"

"This puzzle just got a hell of lot more complicated." With his free hand, he pulled his case closer. He had to secure all four of these test tubes.


	17. Chapter 17

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Catch

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Seventeen<strong>

It wasn't hard for Jeb's soldiers to pick up the Longcoats' trail. A group of men and horses that size couldn't hide their tracks. But he was relieved when a scout found coins from the Other Side dropped in the trail at semi-regular intervals. They marked the path to follow, especially when the trail intersected a heavily traveled road in the Madelines. The collection was heavy in a pouch in his saddlebag, but it gave him hope that he would be able to return them.

The Longcoat camp was well established. This area of the O.Z. was sparsely inhabited, so no one had seen anything suspicious. He divided up the troops sent with him, sending two squads to surround the camp led by Dickinson and Kirkland. He and Marsen led the rest of the soldiers into the camp in the late afternoon.

Longcoats bolted or fought back. Jeb's gun dropped two, but he let other soldiers take point while he made sure the tents were clean. He finished sweeping one when an explosion shook the ground. "What the hell?"

He shoved out of the tent and met one of the privates. She saluted. "The Longcoats ringed the camp with landmines, sir."

"Tell the men to keep away from the perimeters." The private nodded again before dashing off to pass the command. Jeb moved into the next tent. And aimed his gun at the Longcoat aiming at him. He didn't recognize the soldier whose arm tightened around Natalie Durant's chest keeping her arms pinned. "Release your prisoner and surrender, traitor."

"Not happening, crown kisser." The Longcoat pulled Natalie back as he moved through the tent.

Natalie's wide eyes reminded Jeb of the past too keenly. "Get Jack; they put him in a hole in the ground. Don't worry about me!"

"See, the alchemist wants to come with me." The Longcoat smirked as they reached the canvas wall at the other end of the tent. Jeb stepped closer. The Longcoat pushed through the tent flaps, withdrawing his gun from the tent last.

Jeb sprinted after them, passing cots with wounded men on them. The Longcoat shifted his gun to press against Natalie's head when more weapons held by Royal Army soldiers pointed at him. "You've got nowhere to go. Release her and surrender."

"You won't shoot an innocent slipper." The Longcoat's smirk widened as more of his compatriots came around a tent and realized there was a standoff. "Get over here!" The Longcoats scurried behind Natalie and none of the Royal Army soldiers were in a position to stop them. Jeb gritted his teeth as the group of six backed towards the forest. Natalie's eyes closed. The Longcoat dragging her along felt safe enough to move his gun away from her temple. "Give our regards to the Gale bitch."

The ground exploded underneath the group.

Jeb let loose a volley of curses as he sprinted to Natalie's prone body and pulled what was left of the hostage taker off her back. He couldn't fathom going back to Connor and telling him she wasn't breathing, he didn't have to.

Marsen knelt down beside him. "Careful, Captain. Is she bleeding?"

"Can't tell." Most of the gore looked like parts of the Longcoats. "Her back is in one piece."

They rolled her over carefully, and the redhead woman let out her own oath when they saw Natalie's twisted arm. "That's broken and she hit her head. She needs a Viewer."

"Get a splint on her and get her to the truck. I have to find the boy." Jeb scanned the camp. Longcoats rarely deviated from the same layout. He signaled two soldiers to follow him and headed in the direction where prisoners were usually kept. Sure enough, there was a grated hole in the ground. One of the soldiers sprang forward and helped him lift the grate out of the way.

The brown-haired boy stared back at them, his stiff stance melting into relief. "Mr. Cain?"

Jeb reached down for his hand. "Come on, Jack, your father's been worried about you." He looked even more relieved as they hauled him out of the ground and hustled him through the camp.

Marsen was waiting at the truck, parked down the path the Longcoats had made to their camp. "She didn't wake up when we set her arm, Jeb."

They had both seen what head trauma could do in the Resistance. "Raw is with the Queen. We better go straight there."

"You better go." She glanced down at Jack, still clutching Jeb's arm. "We can handle this mop up, Captain."

"Fine, Captain. Come on, Jack, get in." Natalie was strapped down on one of the benches in the back of the wagon, so they sat on the other. Jeb flexed his fingers to return blood flow and leaned against the wall of the wagon. The truck started moving; maybe now he could finally shut his eyes.

"Those guys," Jack said in a small voice. "The ones in black trenchcoats, what did they do to Natalie?"

Jeb leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs. The kid stared at the injured woman. "The Longcoats were using her as a shield so we wouldn't shoot them. Then they stepped on a landmine. She got caught in the blast. But we're taking her straight to help."

"Is my dad really okay?" Brown eyes scanned Jeb's face. "They shot him."

"Patched him up so well he was throwing a fit when we wouldn't let him fight Longcoats to get you."

Jack continued to stare at him. "Sometimes grown-ups lie to spare your feelings."

"I'm not that kind of grown-up." The kid nodded and returned his gaze to Natalie, leaving Jeb to wonder which part Jack thought he was lying about.


	18. Chapter 18

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Activity

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Eighteen<strong>

Connor rubbed his eyes before refocusing on the report he was writing. Nothing they had brought from N.I.H. was affecting this virus. And judging the timeline he and Miles had put together, soon the guards and soldiers would be hitting the deadliest stage. What was he missing?

Activity in the hall outside their lab had increased, so he wasn't surprised when someone knocked on the door. He brought the report with him. DG took no notice of the paperwork in his hand, merely grabbed his free one off the doorknob, and pulled him out of the room. "Jeb's back!"

Being dragged along like this was such a novelty they were on the second floor of the manor house before Connor thought to ask. "Why do you need me?"

DG obviously had no fear of his counterpart that translated into no fear of him and included shooting him are-you-an-idiot looks. "Jeb brought your son and Dr. Durant back." She stopped in front of the bedroom suite door assigned to him and blocked it. "Jack is fine, but Dr. Durant was hurt. Raw is working on her."

Connor's heart plummeted mid-leap. "What happened?"

"I thought getting you was more important than details." DG huffed, but opened the door. "We'll find out together."

The parlor was full. Cain blocked the open doorway of the middle bedroom. Jeb Cain had claimed an armchair and jerked his head to stop it from dropping to his chest. His son, filthier than Lisa had ever let him be, perched on a sofa. "Jack!"

Jack's face lit up underneath the smudges of dried dirt. "Dad!"

He caught his son in a bear hug. Jack's grip was strong and his breathing steady, but Connor still searched his face for any signs of distress. "Did they hurt you?"

Dirt flew from Jack's hair as he shook his head. "They talked like they would if Natalie didn't help them. They put us in a hole, but kept pulling Natalie out to doctor some of them." He frowned at the state of his clothes. "Really, I didn't get this dirty until the booms started. Jeb pulled me out before the walls caved in."

"Booms?"

"The Longcoats ringed their camp with landmines," Jeb answered. "Some tried to use Dr. Durant as a shield, but they stepped on one and she got caught in the blast."

Connor didn't realize he was stepping toward the middle bedroom until his double grabbed his shoulder. "No point in disturbing Raw. If he needs help, he'll let us know."

DG touched Jack's shoulder. "Why don't you get cleaned up before supper gets here?" She guided him towards the third bedroom. "We put your stuff in here, and there's a bathroom attached."

Connor rubbed his face and stepped back. The report was crumpled in his right fist. "How bad is she hurt?"

"From what we could see," Jeb said, "a broken arm and knocked-out cold."

He didn't know how what they called a Viewer closed the bullet hole in his shoulder and was too busy with the disease to worry much about it. Raw was obviously their trusted medic. Connor finally sat on the couch. There was no way he could go back to the lab and keep working, not until he knew Natalie was okay.

DG joined him on the couch, claiming the other end. "I'm sorry."

That jolted Connor. "None of this is your fault." Natalie would be horrified that DG was blaming herself. He was about to add more, but the man with bushy hair and a vaguely feline look to his features and a maid left the middle bedroom.

They left the door only slightly ajar before the maid curtseyed and left and Raw faced them. "Done all I can tonight." He fell into the second armchair. "Leave splint on arm. Must heal more in the morning."

"You had more to heal with her head?" DG frowned.

Raw nodded. "Delicate. Takes more energy. She sleeps now, no danger. Probably won't remember the attack."

"Short term memory loss?" Connor was trying to put it in terms he understood, and that probably wasn't the best idea on a different planet even if they did speak English.

But Raw nodded. "Go see her, don't wake." He chuckled as Connor strode to Natalie's bedroom. "So much like Cain."

"What does that mean?" His counterpart moved closer to the Viewer.

"When do you take anybody's word on anything?" DG laughed.

Connor ignored them as he returned the door to almost shut and moved beside the bed. A bedside lamp had been left on, but most of the room was in shadows. They had cleaned her up and changed her clothes. What he could see of her left forearm was bruised and swollen, but the expression on her face was peaceful. "I'm sorry, Natalie. I should have protected you and Jack better," he whispered. His finger brushed against her light brown hair on the pillow.

"Dr. Connor?" DG's voice was soft at the door. "Supper's here, if you're hungry."

He stepped out to join the others in the sitting room. Raw met his gaze and nodded. "Will heal her arm in morning after she wakes up. Good-night."

Good-byes were echoed and they sat down at a circular table laid out for the meal. Jack and Jeb were the only ones who made a sizable dent in what had been delivered. And compared to DG picking at her plate, Cain and Conner both ate a full meal. Cain noticed her lack of appetite. Too bad staring at her plate wouldn't put the food in her stomach.

"Tell Miles I'm staying up here so he knows where to find me." Connor asked the Cains and DG when they left.

They promised to, but Jack looked confused. "I thought you had to work?"

"I don't have anything to test." Connor found where the report landed and smoothed out the wrinkles. "I can figure out what to do next and be here if you or Natalie needs something."

"But we're safe here, right?"

"Yes, this is strictly about making me feel better. I don't know what I would've done if they hadn't found you." He hoped he hadn't frightened or upset Jack with that admission and Natalie's inclusion.

Jack squeezed him in a hug and headed off to bed. He was fast asleep when Connor's watch said thirty minutes had passed.

Forty minutes into his night watch, Connor dropped the report in his lap. No new ideas were coming from this umpteenth review of what they knew. He needed Natalie. He returned to her bedroom with a sigh. "I'll still have to bring you up to speed tomorrow," he explained quietly as he pulled a chair to the side of the bed with the lit lamp. "Damnit, you shouldn't be hurt. I shouldn't have let you get hurt." His chest tightened. "How am I supposed to function without you?"

_And just how is she supposed to know that, Stephen?_ He pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't deny it had been growing on him for a while, especially after Colima. Frank's joking aside, he needed her.

"We'll talk about that in the morning. For now, let me pretend you're listening to this." He picked up the report and started reading it out loud.


	19. Chapter 19

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Rock

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Nineteen<strong>

DG collapsed on the couch in her bedroom with a sigh. Her head felt like it was back in a travel storm whirling through and around everything, but landing on nothing. When would all the bad stop? Right, when she made it stop. She was doing a bang up job so far.

"DG?" She jerked her head to see Cain standing in her bedroom. She was pretty sure the door had shut with him on the hall side. But what did she know; she was wrong about everything else. He stopped near the couch. "What's going through that head of yours?"

_Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Thank you Shakespeare class._ She didn't tumble that thought out to Cain because it would take too much explaining, so her mouth seized the second choice. "It's all my fault." His wince made her think she should have chosen statement number three.

"It's not-" he started with hand outstretched.

"**DON'T!**" She leaped off the couch and paced away her anger, away from him. "I'm the one in charge, it was my plan, and it is my fault!"

"Right, because Longcoats and illnesses take orders directly from you." Cain hitched his thumbs into his belt.

"We should be glad they don't. I could make them so much worse; the Sorceress's reign would look like the Golden Age." Pacing wasn't helping, so she stared out the window.

Cain grabbed her shoulders and jerked her from the view she couldn't see. "Don't say things like that! All you have ever done is save people."

"My mother is dead! Dr. Durant nearly blew up, Jack was almost buried alive! And you want me to keep the damn crown and see who else I'll destroy?"

He shook her. "I want you to keep the crown because you are the best person for the job when you aren't letting a guilt trip carry you away."

She threw off his hands. "Guilt trip! I failed my family!"

"And I wouldn't know anything about that, DG?"

His tone should have been a warning and it was to the part of her brain that was screaming at her to shut up before he rode out of her life forever. Too bad she had never listened to that part of her brain. "You losing a fight when you were outnumbered didn't kill your family, I did it when I freed the witch. My mother has been weak ever since she gave me her Light and she wasn't strong enough to fight off this disease. So it **IS all my fault**!" She couldn't look at him, turning to the wall instead. There she leaned waiting for the inevitable door slam.

"Try that argument on someone who didn't see the show you and Raw made out of your memories." Strong arms pulled her away from the wall to let her face press against cotton and leather-clad chest and wrapped around her so she couldn't flee. "The witch tricked you with cries for help. Adora and I made the decision to join the Resistance together. As for your mother," he sighed and tightened his hug. "You left at nightfall and returned the next night, darlin'. We all expected it to take longer than that for you to find anyone."

Her chin trembled. "It didn't do any good."

"There's fifty-six people in the other wing who would disagree with you." One of his hands stroked her hair. "You're trying to hold everything in so you look strong. You don't have to do that for me. I know how strong you really are." Her hands curled into fists on top of his vest. "Let it out, DG, and let it go."

When Cain talked softly like that, she couldn't deny him anything. The strength of the sob that tore out of her surprised her, but his hold never wavered. She lost track of time before she ran out of tears. When all she had left was hitches in her breathing, his hold shifted, picked her up, and set her down on her bed. He stepped back, but her hand latched onto the lapel of his vest. "Don't go."

"I'm not leaving, but I thought you'd like a glass of water." He headed into the room's attached bathroom after she nodded and brought back the water and a rag. While she composed herself, he double-checked the lock, turned off the lights, and kicked off his boots. He had his gun and holster off and was stretched out on the side of the bed closest to the door by the time she turned around. "This is the only way to make sure you'll actually get some sleep."

Whatever excuse worked for him. She tugged off her own shoes and curled up next to the only rock she had in the Zone.


	20. Chapter 20

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Carousel

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty<strong>

Cain tightened his hold around DG and pulled the smaller woman closer. The suns were spilling light into the room, but he had no desire to get up and start the day. But a desire of a different sort welled up in him when her hands stroked over his chest and she nuzzled his neck. This was an alarm he could wake up every day to.

He drew his hand down her back and she arched against his body. Her lips teased his neck, banishing the last of his doubts that she didn't want this. His hand continued down her body, over the swell of her backside in her pants.

DG's leg curled around his. She sighed against his neck and pressed even closer.

He had lost track of how long she had been driving him crazy, dancing closer then pulling back until he didn't know what she wanted. Like a carousel ride that never ended. But now her signals were completely clear and all he could think was to show her just how much he wanted the same thing. He rolled them over so he was over her.

DG's legs circled around his hips as her blue eyes blinked open. "Wyatt?"

He cupped her cheek with his left hand. "Morning, sweetheart." He dipped his head down and pressed his lips against her softer ones.

For a few sweet seconds all Cain knew was bliss.

DG's legs unwrapped from around him and she exploded underneath him. Cain landed on his back and he propped himself up on his elbows. DG landed on her feet beside the bed. "I'm sorry! God, I... STUPID! I'd never, well maybe just dreaming. YES, YES, I was dreaming and I'm so SORRY!" Her face was so red it was nearly glowing. "You... you needed me to be Adora! Okay, that's okay, it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't dreamed! It'll never happen again!" She clapped her hands together and vanished.

Cain blinked. "What the hell!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Day

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-One<strong>

Natalie blinked her eyes against the light pouring in through a window. She was stretched out on a bed, her left arm throbbed with pain, and the last thing she remembered was being in a hole in the ground with Jack prisoners in a camp of a military force. Who didn't have buildings or four-poster beds. She looked down at her arm and grimaced. It was broken, but splinted up tightly. Why hadn't someone put a real cast on it?

She rolled to the side and sat on the edge of the bed without putting any weight on the broken arm. Someone had put a clean T-shirt and yoga pants on her during the time frame she couldn't remember. What day was it? She twisted and looked out the window. Two suns, maybe she should shelve the day question for now.

There was a chair next to the bed. She picked up the papers sitting on the seat and recognized Stephen's handwriting. He was okay enough to work. That knowledge made her heart beat faster. Well, she had accepted that status quo a long time ago. The man leaves her a work assignment and her emotions acted like it was a love note. But she was still glad he was okay.

The door hinges creaked. "Natalie?" Jack grinned and entered the room. "You're awake. You just missed Dad. He said he had to help Miles with the rounds."

"I got his homework." She waved the set of papers and looked at the young woman and furry man who had followed Jack into her bedroom. "DG Gale?"

"That's right." The dark-haired woman smiled. "And this is my friend, Raw. He's a Viewer. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Guys in black trenchcoats had Jack and me in a pit. Everything between then and now is blank."

"Jeb led a unit of the Royal Army to rescue you and Jack. The Longcoats, guys in black trenchcoats, tried to use as a human shield until they stepped on one of their own landmines. Unfortunately, you got hurt in the explosion."

"Better wake up than in Colima." Natalie glanced down at her arm. "I should be hurt worse than this."

"Raw healed your head," DG explained. "Viewers have the ability to heal people as well as empathy, to know what you're feeling. He's going to fix your arm this morning and Jack and me will go down and get you some breakfast. What would you like?"

"An omelet and a waffle would be great."

"You'll get it even if I have to cook it myself. Come on, Jack."

Raw chuckled. "DG wants to agitate the servants." He moved closer to the bed. "Healing will hurt. DG takes son away so not to upset him."

"I'm not Jack's mother."

"Not yet." Raw picked up her broken arm.

"Have you been talking to Frank? He has this joke that Stephen and I are work spouses and I don't know if you even have the concept he-**LL**!" He laid his other gloved hand on top of her forearm and the pain shot up her nerves along with heat. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming.

Then it was over. Raw untied the splint and flexed her hand, wrist, and elbow. The pain was gone and the limb moved fine. "How did you do that?"

"Viewer talent. Some can heal wounds on others."

She looked up into golden cat eyes. "But you can't do anything for the people with the disease?"

He shook his head. "Can only speed up what the body has started. Viewers never make people with sickness better."

"Viruses and bacteria are both life forms, maybe that's why." Raw couldn't explain the limitation any further than he had, and eventually left her so she could get dressed and concentrate on the report Stephen had left.

Jack and DG returned with the promised breakfast and a fruit drink called papay juice, which tasted like mango and pineapple with a dash of strawberry. They were also trying to teach Raw how to play Uno. She was about to leave when Jack looked up. "We should warn you about Mr. Cain. Just in case you run into him."

Natalie sat down again. "Something happened to him?" The ill-at-ease young man she had met at N.I.H. had saved her and Jack, so she hoped nothing had.

DG blushed. "Jack's means Jeb's father, Wyatt Cain. He looks just like Dr. Connor, identical twins."

"They dress different though." Jack grinned impishly. "Mr. Cain didn't like my idea of trading outfits with Dad."

"Born on two different planets, to two different sets of parents, how is that possible?"

"God didn't break the mold?" DG shrugged as Natalie laughed. "It's the first thing that popped into my head when I met Dr. Connor and couldn't say it out loud. Not with Jeb freaking out that his father was on a different planet."

"Thanks for the warning." Natalie left them to the game after getting directions to the laboratory. Stephen's notes left off in the middle of an experiment, but she didn't have any trouble finding the Petri dishes in question and checking the results. Heavy measured steps entered the lab and stopped, Stephen's steps, and her back tingled in recognition. "You didn't write down what happened with Peramivir. I don't see any changes to the virus." She turned away from the microscope.

Stephen had moved closer. She saw his trademark black T-shirt before his hands cradled her head and his lips pounced on hers. Despite her shock, her body responded, shifting closer to him and deepening the kiss. If he had been bewitched, complaining about it was the last thing she wanted to do.

He pulled back and her wide eyes caused a flicker of remorse in his. "I shouldn't have."

"Stephen." A ringing telephone interrupted her reassurances. "They have phones?"

"Not across the whole country." He picked up the receiver from the circa 1950 telephone on a table against the wall. "Connor." She could hear a panicked voice on the other end. He pointed to the pile of cases. "Someone's coding."

Natalie had the emergency kits out before Stephen had hung up the phone. He took one from her and strode out of the lab and through the double doors to the right. A young woman in a green dress met them, and hurried them through the hall to a set of stairs. She led them to a bedroom on the second floor.

Miles was trying to intubation a young man in the throes of a seizure. Connor moved in beside a blonde woman in a purple dress just as the young man's body went limp. The young doctor met Connor's gaze with a frown.

"That's how they die," the young woman whispered. "That's how they've all died."

The blonde woman moved away from the bed and hugged her. "Come along, Azkadellia. He was a brave boy. The others need you to be brave now."

Natalie moved up to the empty side of the bed. The patient had the air of a soldier. Miles tried to burn holes in the headboard with his glare. "Oseltamivir isn't helping," he finally said.

Connor turned to her. "You have to find what I've missed."

She nodded, and shoved their kiss to the back of her mind. Even if he was under a spell, saving lives still came first.


	22. Chapter 22

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Tube

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Two<strong>

Connor scowled at the data. Natalie had entered the lab with Miles, so they had to focus on work. "Cytokin storms," she said. He swiveled on the stool to face them. "You asked for what you had missed. Oseltamivir is delaying the onset but the body was still overwhelmed by its own immune system."

"And who's left from Neverdale are either very young or elderly. But we still may lose them because the virus overwhelms them. Just containing this virus so it doesn't wipe out the whole country isn't acceptable."

She matched Connor's glare. "We're going to have to start looking at drug combinations then, and risk the side effects. And see if we can find any clues in the local medical literature."

"Provided we can find someone who can translate their medical jargon for us." Connor pursed his lips.

The lab door opened again and a weary-looking Frank and Eva managed to get inside. Eva did perk up when she saw Natalie. "Natalie!" She hugged her. "Jack's okay too?"

"I left him upstairs winning an Uno game."

Frank gingerly set his case on a table. "Ready for some more bad news?" They crowded around the table, except for Eva. Frank pulled out a wooden rack with four old-fashioned test tubes stopped with black rubber and filled with a clear liquid. There was an empty hole in the rack for one more tube. "We found this in the trader's luggage. And I'll feel real stupid for how slow we maybe the driver go if it turns out to be a sample of his moonshine."

Connor gloved his hands before preparing a slide, sampling the first tube. Natalie handled the second, working at the other microscope. He glared at the evidence through the microscope lens before sampling the third tube. Natalie breathed in sharply before reaching for the last tube.

He waited until her blue eyes looked up from the microscope. "Positive, both of them are positive, son of a..." She pressed her lips together rather than finishing.

"All four are positive. Visually it looks like the same strain."

Miles looked stunned. "Bioterrorism?"

"I don't think it was the guys that had me and Jack," Natalie added. Connor's nostrils flared, but he would listen to Natalie's observations about those bastards. "They didn't even have enough medical knowledge to deal with the cohorts who were shot."

Frank sank down on a couch next to Eva. "I was praying for moonshine."

"You got any more samples to process?" Connor asked him.

"We swabbed all the public areas we could think of, to see if we could figure out where he dropped off the missing tube."

"Okay, get started on that. Natalie, Miles, start working on drug combos that can beat this virus back. Eva," she looked up at Connor. "Looks like you got library research." He glanced at Natalie. "DG was still with Jack when you left?" She nodded. "Come on, Eva, let's break the bad news."


	23. Chapter 23

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Basket

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Three<strong>

Glitch finally found DG in the largest suite that she had refused when it was offered to her. She and Jack Connor were examining a pile of coins to the amusement of Jeb Cain and Raw.

"Seriously, Kansas, a buffalo?" She held the coin up to her face. "Because that is the first thing you think of when someone says Kansas."

"Could be worse," Jack said. "Like New Hampshire. They put their Old Man of the Mountain on theirs, then rock slide. The face slid right off the mountain."

"I hate to interrupt a good time," Glitch said. "But we have to go over this paperwork before we meet with the Council again, DG."

"There's always paperwork," she grumbled, handing the coin back to Jack.

Jeb stood up from the armchair. "Since I'd rather miss that, I'm sure Jack would too. Do you want to go riding?"

"Riding what? Horses? I've never rode a horse before."

"It won't be a bad thing to learn then."

DG called after them. "Be careful, we don't have permission from his father to crack his skull open." Then she turned back to Glitch. "Okay, let's relocate to the library."

Raw followed him and DG down to the library along with DG's guards, and Cain met them in the first floor hall. "I got the reports on the assault on the Longcoat camp."

"Add it to the pile," Glitch answered cheerfully when it was clear DG wasn't going to say anything. "Or does Jeb need to sign off on it first?"

"He already did." Cain shook his head. "Damned if I know when he did."

He started to shut the library doors when his Slipper doppelganger and the young woman who was not an alchemist stopped him. "Is Miss Gale in here?"

"What is it, Dr. Connor?" They slipped into the library and shut the door. DG gestured with her hand and the walls took on a golden hue. "Sound barrier spell. Sorry, but your expression reminded me of talking security with Cain and he doesn't like being overheard."

Connor glanced at Cain. "Fair enough. Frank and Eva found the source of the virus in Neverdale."

"We started in the rooms of a trader people remember arriving before everyone got sick. We thought maybe he was sick and passed it along since he was one of the first ones to die." Eva took a deep breath and continued. "We found a rack of test tubes, four of them, with one missing."

"They all had the virus in them."

DG's mouth dropped open as she stared at Connor. "Popsicle has been mangling _the Stand_ references since this started, and you're telling me he was right? Somebody made a Captain Trips super-flu?"

"We have no way of knowing if it's a natural disease or genetically modified, but it was deliberately released on Neverdale."

"Let me get this straight." Cain moved closer to the table. "This trader committed murder with this virus that is making people sick? And killed himself with the same thing?"

"It's possible he was acting under orders and not told what was going to happen." Connor shrugged. "Or maybe he was told to handle the virus a certain way to not get sick and he didn't."

"Well, it's not the Longcoats," Glitch said. "They have the inclination to see us all dead at their feet and probably would have stolen it if the witch's alchemists had been working on a project like this, but they don't have the brains to distill illness into a vial."

Connor's lips twitched. "Natalie said the same thing, more or less."

"Clumsy way to assassinate a Queen." Cain plopped his papers on top of the pile Glitch set down on the table.

"That would have to be a side benefit," DG said quietly. "Mother wasn't scheduled to travel to Neverdale; she came after people were dying so rapidly. So if it's another kingdom resorting to bioterrorism, why did they pick Neverdale? Why didn't they hit Central City and affect the most people at once?"

"A test?" Glitch shrugged. "On the surface it looks like they put all their test tubes in one basket, or suitcase in this instance, but what if they didn't?"

Connor nodded. "Unless there's some strategic significance to Neverdale you haven't shared."

"It was a vacation town before the witch's coup," Cain said. "And we haven't given it any military significance after the Battle of the Eclipse. So it probably was a test." DG made a distressed noise that broke Cain's concentration as he looked at her. Raw scooted his chair closer to her and patted her arm. Cain looked back at Eva. "Did you find anything that could identify who this trader was working for?"

"The name he signed in with was Ned Barterman," Eva said. "Frank searched his stuff pretty thoroughly, so you'll have to ask him."

"What do we do now?" DG asked.

"We're still trying to find a treatment for the patients," Connor answered. "Is there any medical literature Eva can search through here or do we have to send off for it?"

Glitch left the table to scan the shelves. "I think Baron Colfer bought books based on the color of the bindings. And it looks like Cain's paranoid frame of mind has served us well again."

"I only suggested we keep Queen Galinda's death quiet so the Longcoats wouldn't take the opportunity to attack. I didn't expect the Council to actually agree with me."

Glitch grinned despite of the news. The Council hadn't stood a chance when Wyatt Cain had made up his mind that the news would put DG in danger. He pulled out a vaguely familiar title. "Here's a biological encyclopedia, so this must be the scientific shelves." He passed it over to Eva, who looked over the shelves, before rejoining the table. "We should relocate."

DG's blue eyes flashed as she opened her mouth.

"To another room in the manor." Glitch added before she could rant about not going to Central City. "So Miss Rossi can work."

She stood up. "Okay, and I know Cain's going to want me in a room with no other windows and doors, but it has to be bigger than a closet if I don't get a window."

"We'll find something suitable." Glitch assured her as she pulled down the sound barrier spell and they picked up their paperwork.


	24. Chapter 24

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Granted

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Four<strong>

Eva hefted another big volume off the shelf to the table. Looking at the table of contents, it reminded her of the _Merck Manual_. Not that she had to look at one for her job duties, but she wasn't going to let anyone throw her off with jargon.

Someone was still left in the room and she looked up. It was Dr. Connor's twin, Mr. Cain looking resolved and embarrassed at the same time. "I need to ask you some questions."

"I really don't know anything about Ned Barterman. My protective suit didn't fit and I could barely touch anything."

"Not about that." Cain's ears were turning red as he perched on a nearby chair. "About DG. She was raised on the Other Side and you're closest to her age."

"Okay." She closed the book and waited for the questions.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It's like every time I show romantic interest in her, she runs away. I must be doing something that doesn't match what she grew up with."

The girl had a screw loose if she wasn't accepting romantic gestures from this hunk. "Are you sure she's running away? Or is she playing hard to get?"

"I kissed her this morning and she jumped out of the bed and left the room with a spell." His left hand came up and rubbed his eyes and she saw the silver band on his ring finger. "She shouldn't even know how to teleport yet."

Eva took a deep breath. "Well, Earth comes down hard on women who get entangled with married men. Not nearly as hard on the men, but they don't escape the trash talk either."

Cain's glare was just as hard as Connor's. "My wife is dead. DG was with me when we found her grave."

She was surprisingly relieved she wasn't dealing with an adulterer. "Well, then she's probably waiting for you to take off your wedding ring and declare yourself ready to move on."

"My what?" The glare softened with confusion. She pointed to his left hand, but his expression didn't clear. "What does jewelry have to do with moving?"

"If it's not a wedding ring, you're wearing it on the finger reserved for one. During the wedding ceremony, when you exchange vows with your wife, you also exchange rings as a symbol of your union and your vows and a hands off sign to everyone else. Did you have a Vegas wedding and not remember that part?"

"I don't know what Vegas wedding means." He held up his hand to stop her explanation. "Everybody does this wedding ring on the Other Side?"

"It's practically granted in America, along with diamond engagement rings. Course, there's always a few people who don't believe in traditions like that."

"You have an obsession with jewelry," he snapped. "What's the point of taking it off to move?"

"Moving on to a new relationship. If your partner dies or you divorce, you take your wedding ring off when you're ready to date again." A little nagging detail finally clicked in her brain, and Eva reared back. "The boss took his off. He called Natalie Natalie instead of Dr. Durant to all of you people and he took his wedding ring off!" Cain looked confused over her enthusiasm. "Perfect example to fall into my lap. Dr. Connor is divorced. His marriage to Jack's mother is over. But he hadn't taken off his wedding ring until after I left for Neverdale, probably because he wasn't ready to deal with just how much Natalie means to him"

"Stop, please." Cain held up his hand again. "So you think DG is waiting for me to take off this ring and because I haven't, I must not want to get married again?"

"Either that or she's into girls." He got up abruptly and strode to the door. He did remember to say "thank you" before he left the library. Eva shrugged and looked down at the book. "Okay, I need at least one disease before I can go find out what is up with the Boss and Natalie." She opened it back to the table of contents. "Coughing illnesses, probably the best place to start."


	25. Chapter 25

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Universe

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Five<strong>

The parlor Glitch had found wasn't too bad. She was sure she could undo the spell that bricked up the windows if she needed to. And if Lord Vandervort kept leaning closer to her, it may happen sooner than anticipated.

"Surely, you can agree it is vital, your Majesty?" His green eyes gleamed as he looked at her.

Before she could answer, someone knocked on the door and opened it before they finished knocking. "DG," Cain started then glared at Lord Vandervort, "I need to speak with you. Alone."

She put on a big smile for Lord Vandervort even though her stomach had dropped past the basement of this manor house. "I'll look over these proposals and get back with you."

"Proposals!" Cain moved further into the room with both hands curled into fists.

Lord Vandervort stood and fixed Cain with an icy stare. "For changes to the University at Shiz. Surely, you can agree that this crisis has shown how we need educated alchemists?" He bowed to DG. "I await your word, your Majesty." He stalked out, shutting the door behind him.

"Intense much, Cain?" DG tried to breathe but her lungs weren't cooperating to their fullest.

"I don't like him and I don't like him in your lap." He scowled at the door.

DG sighed and set the papers aside. Cain would get to his point and it would probably be exactly what she didn't want to talk about.

He shook off his displeasure and looked back at her. "We need to talk about what happened this morning."

"Look Cain, it's been an emotional wrecking week. Can we just agree to never let it happen again?"

"No, I'm not saying that."

"Why do you have to make everything so difficult! It's not that hard, repeat after me: It's been an emotional week and it won't happen again.'"

"I want it to happen again."

First her lungs, and now her ears. She couldn't have heard that right. "In general or with me?"

"With you." He smiled in amused affection.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She felt her cheeks heat up as she stared up at Cain. It was Cain; she latched onto his scarred eyebrow for identification.

He sat down next to her. "You knocked me off the speech I had. I better cover the important parts regardless. The Zone doesn't have wedding rings like the Other Side does." Her glance down at his left hand wasn't as subtle as she was trying for. "I took it off when Miss Rossi said that could be the problem."

"But I've seen other couples wearing them, my parents."

"When your parents got married, there were big write-ups in all the papers. The one Adora kept was about the Slipper custom of married couples having a set of rings, something Ahamo insisted on adding to the royal ceremony." He chuckled. "She thought it was so romantic and would usually mention once on our anniversary and her birthday. I finally got enough money together to buy a set when I joined the Mystic Man's protection detail. It made her so happy." He shook his head ruefully. "But nobody told me there were rules associated with the thing until Miss Rossi all but accused me of cheating on Adora with you."

DG twined her fingers together as her cheeks burned hotter. She stared at her hands in her laps. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not." He tugged one of her hands free and held it, gently running his thumb over her knuckles. "All you did was put my feelings ahead of your own."

"Yeah, but I would have put your feelings ahead of my own all the way down the aisle with the wrong guy."

Cain's other hand cupped her cheek and turned her face to his. "I would never have let it go that far." He drew her closer for a kiss.

And she felt the scales of the universe tipped to her favor instead of against her with that kiss.


	26. Chapter 26

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Music

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Six<strong>

It wasn't time to pass around evening meal trays yet and since her presence agitated more of the ill than soothed them, Azkadellia headed into the communication room. Maybe DG wasn't too busy and could talk. Unfortunately, Miles stretched across the leather chaise inside the room derailed that plan. She smiled, even though his closed eyes wouldn't see it, and turned away to let him rest.

"Azkadellia?" He sat up and pulled wires out of his ears. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just didn't know you were resting in here. Go back to sleep."

He swung his legs off the side of the chaise. "I wasn't asleep, just listening to music and trying to zone out." He shook his head. "I probably shouldn't have used that phrase."

She giggled. "It's okay, DG has explained that phrase before. But music?" She looked around curiously. "There's no gramophone or wireless gramophone in here."

"It's on my cell phone." He held up a black box that fit in the palm of his hand. "It's a good mp3 player in a pinch." He laughed. "You don't believe me, come here."

She sat down next to him on chaise and he slipped the ends of the wires into her ears. The hard knob at the end fit snuggly into her ear canal. The box the wires led to hand buttons, but Miles pressed them too quickly for her to follow. Melody and a singer filled her ears.

_Clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst  
>Out at you from their hiding place<br>Like acid and oil on a madman's face  
>His reason tends to fly away<br>Like lesser birds on the four winds  
>Like silver scrapes in may<br>And now the sand's become a crust  
>Most of you have gone away<br>_ "It's beautiful," she said.

"It's Blue Oyster Cult. I've got some Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Hole, R.E.M.; those are names of the bands."

"The ones who make the music?"

"Right."

When the song finished, she pulled the knobs from her ears. "Thank you for sharing your music. I should let you continue zoning out."

"I wasn't having much success," he admitted. "How are you feeling?"

She sighed. "I'm tired and I miss my sister and my mother."

"But you don't feel sick?" He laid his hand on her forehead. "No fever."

"Miles, I would tell you if I felt like I was catching anything. I'm taking all the pills you tell me to. Why do you think I'm lying?"

He sighed and stared at the floor. "We got called into a case in a small town where ten percent of the population came down with a mutated form of the flu. The town doctor was the third one to die, but his receptionist helped us with the case histories and the patients, all while she was getting sicker with the same thing. She didn't tell us she was feeling it until she couldn't hide the symptoms, and we ended up with a cure too late to save her."

He tried to keep his voice a flat concentration of facts, but Azkadellia still heard the pain and the guilt. "What was her name?"

"Lily."

"I'm not nearly as brave as Lily. I don't want to die with the witch's sins still on my soul." She picked up the hand that had rested on her forehead and squeezed it. "I promise to tell you as soon as I feel bad."

"But you don't." His eyebrows drew together. "You've been around the patients for how long and you haven't gotten sick?"

She counted in her head. "Fourteen days, I think. Maybe my magic is keeping me safe."

"And your father?" He frowned. "I don't think magic is the answer here."

The go-between instrument rang, and she answered it. "This is Eva. Are any of the doctors around?"

Azkadellia passed the receiver to Miles. "Burzee Suffocation? What are the symptoms?" He waited until Eva finished listing them. "It matches; do they list a treatment?" He gestured for Azkadellia to come closer. "Who was the consort in the annual 86 O.R.C.? Eva says the name was been redacted in the book she's reading."

"It was father, the banishment spell erased his old name. Why?"

Hope bloomed in his eyes. "The reference book says the consort and crown princess survived the Burzee Suffocation that hit Burzee in annual 86 O.R.C. Your sister may hold the key to healing everyone!"

She shook her head. "DG wasn't born until 90." She blinked. "The book is talking about me? It must be; I would have been three annuals old."

"Did we ever take a sample of your blood?" Miles asked. "Wait here while I get the supplies." He hung up the go-between instrument and left the wing. He hurried back with a medical kit and perched her in a chair. "Roll up the sleeve on your left arm. Antibodies, I can't believe we didn't test for them."

"Antibodies? Sometimes I think you and DG are just making up words." He tied a plastic scarf around her skin and felt her elbow for a blood vein. She looked at his face instead of the large syringe he moved closer to her arm.

"If this is true, I'll show you the antibodies." He finished filling the vial with her blood and pulled the needle out. He rushed out again with her blood but after bandaging her arm, so she waited again, pressing the gauze against the slight wound.


	27. Chapter 27

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Cumbersome

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Seven<strong>

DG clasped Cain's hand under the library table and it trembled as the members of the Council found their seats. He ran his thumb against her skin. Truth was, he didn't know which news they had to tell them made her the jitteriest. Glitch cocked his head inquisitively as he sat across the table from Cain, but didn't say anything.

"Thank you for coming," DG began.

Count Begon frowned as he settled into his chair. "Normally we have a few days free of meetings until the next one, your Majesty."

Cain raised his eyebrow. "Well, if you're too busy to hear about developments that affect the Zone, you don't have to stay." Count Begon glowered, but didn't move out of his seat.

"Developments?" Count Roundtree asked.

DG squeezed Cain's hand tighter. "The doctors found evidence that the disease was deliberately unleashed on Neverdale. The seventy-six who have died were murdered, including Mother."

"By the gods," Count Roundtree muttered as he pressed a handkerchief to his mouth.

Lord Vandervort had paled with the news. "How did they discover this?"

"They found vials of the disease in a recent arrival to the village's luggage," Cain said. "He posed as a trader and brought five vials with him. He only used one to make the whole village ill. Unfortunately, he died too."

"But if they found this, are they closer to an antidote?" Count Roundtree turned to Glitch on his right.

Glitch shook his head. "It's not like poison. If there is no cure for the disease, we can't heal people suffering from it."

Count Begon drummed his fingers against the tabletop. "Are the Longcoats responsible?"

Now it was Cain's turn to shake his head. "If they had the ability, they wouldn't have wasted it on a poor target like Neverdale. They would have gone straight to Central City, the Palace, and the Royal Army."

Count Begon nodded reluctantly. "So did an alchemist who worked for the witch survive?"

"I thought we accounted for all of them." DG's quivering was limited to her hand at least.

"In the chaos after the Eclipse, we thought we had." Glitch shrugged. "I sent for one of my assistants to comb through the witch's records. Been meaning to have it done for an annual now; always pushed it back."

"You think the witch could have had alchemists set up somewhere besides the Tower who decided not to kill themselves after she was melted?" Cain asked.

"It's either that or a foreign realm," Glitch answered.

"But no one has shown that level of hostility to us!" Count Roundtree said.

"Maybe you should double check that," Cain suggested.

DG took a deep breath. "Other than the doctors still trying to find a cure, Glitch looking into the local terrorists angle, and Count Roundtree looking for the outside ones; there is some good news to share." She squeezed his hand tighter as the four faces stared at her. "Wyatt Cain and I are getting married."

Cain reached six in his silent count-up before the three outraged "whats!" and a happy "congratulations!" were shouted out.

"But you wouldn't even meet Prince Gilliam!" Count Roundtree protested.

Count Begon glared solely at Cain. "Who do you think you are, using her state of grief-"

"Oh please," Glitch snapped. "Even with half a brain, I saw how twitterpated they were about each other. DG would never consider anyone else."

"Because Wyatt Cain Hero of the Eclipse was the first to aid her, first to join her quest, first to save her." Lord Vandervort's chair scraped back. "Nothing anyone else did for you would ever compare to that." The library doors slammed behind him.

"Actually the first was Glitch." Cain glanced at DG and decided to coax a smile to her troubled face. "Maybe we should look at how history is being taught across the Zone if they're getting mixed up on what just happened an annual ago."

Count Begon appealed directly to the head of the table. "Your Majesty, Lord Vandervort phrased it poorly, but essentially he is correct. You threw yourself into the rebuilding projects and never spent time with nobles your own age. How can you know what you feel is real when you have nothing to compare it to?"

Glitch snorted with laughter like he had been given a dose of vapors. "That's the same speech you gave Galinda when she turned down your betrothal for Ahamo's! Dangling from the balloon and staring down into the Gap wasn't punishment enough the first time?"

"I don't want to see our Queen taken advantage of!"

"Unless you're doing it?" DG's cold voice doused Glitch's laughter. She pulled their joined hands to the tabletop.

"That's not what I meant, your Majesty."

"So you think Wyatt Cain's intentions are insincere? Think about how you want to answer that, because he's the one who wouldn't let me dismiss this cumbersome bullshit of informing the Council." She glared at the two Counts. "So should I start with my inexperience at dating that's not true on the Other Side? Or the fact that I can count on one hand the nobles my own age who have actually done anything toward rebuilding the O.Z.? I love Wyatt Cain and I am marrying him. If you don't like it, you can hand in your resignation now."

Count Roundtree sighed. "So the wedding after the coronation? Or do you want a longer engagement?"


	28. Chapter 28

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Rodent

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Eight<strong>

Miles held his breath as he loaded the Petri dish under the microscope. He hoped, prayed even that he was right. He didn't want to see Azkadellia's brown eyes tear up with one more death, which they always did, no matter how horrible the patients treated her. He didn't even look up from the microscope when the door opened behind him. His coworkers would ask him soon enough what he was doing.

So the blinding pain to the back of his head was totally unexpected.

He picked himself up from the floor. The front of his head was throbbing in sync with the back of his head. He blinked and focused on the blood on the floor. Oh damn, the sample!

Lurching to his feet, he found the microscope and sample were just fine but there was a blood smear on the edge of the table. He touched the front throb gingerly and blood transferred to his gloved fingers. Then he recognized the sound of empty test tubes tapping each other. The young man searching through the supplies set up on a table Miles didn't recognize. "Hey!"

Dark-haired man whirled around. "Where are they? What have you done with them you Slipper!"

Frank's voice quoting an important safety tip burbled to the forefront of Miles' consciousness. _Don't debate with mobile crazy. Save it for after they've been strapped down._ "SECURITY!" Miles bellowed.

The wild expression on this intruder's face broke into an angry snarl. He threw himself at Miles. "Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get them? And for what? So that temperamental Tin Man gets the glory of her bed!" He grabbed Miles by the labcoat's lapels.

Miles shoved back to get him away from the microscopes. They spun away from the tables and hit the wall next to the door. "The Burzee Suffocation?"

The man yelled in rage, which Miles took as a yes, and heaved Miles toward the tables again. Miles managed to stop the spin that way and heaved them against the door. The door gave way and spilled them both onto the corridor floor.

"Halt in the name of the Queen!" A soldier yelled at them.

Miles would have gladly threw up his hands in surrender only they were busy trying to keep the angry one's hands off his throat as the two men rolled across the floor. Doors opened and he felt the pounding feet join them in the corridor. One of the hands reached Miles' throat, so he batted out with a free hand and smacked his opponent's ear.

Something grabbed Miles and pulled him back, sliding him along the floor. He didn't mind laying there pinned by something invisible since his opponent landed against the wall and couldn't move either. Miles looked down the hall toward the library and main staircase. DG had one hand pointed at him and her other pointed at the guy on the wall. Not-Connor stood mostly in front of her with his gun out.

A large hand grabbed his chin and repositioned his head. Connor knelt over him. "This isn't what I meant when I told you to go rest, McCabe."

"It wasn't my idea." He held still while Connor checked his pupils.

"What is going on here?" DG demanded as she lowered her hands.

Miles sat up with Connor's help as the force holding him down vanished. "He wanted the virus vials." His finger pointed straight at the young man sliding down the wall to the floor.

"I was asking after them." The young man was doing a much better job of hiding his crazy face now. "You fell and hit your head and then attacked me."

"You lying rat!" Miles shouted, and then grabbed his head. Adrenaline was wearing off and leaving behind the headache from hell.

"We aren't playing this he said game." DG snapped her fingers and pointed to a wide-eyed page. "Master Raw retired to his rooms; go get him now."

The little boy scampered off and crazy man bolted for the outer door. The soldiers finally did something useful and grabbed him.

"If Raw is a lie detector too, let the record show I got no issues with him detecting on me."

"How hard did he hit you?" Connor muttered as he set Miles on his feet again.

"You want to change your story, Lord Vandervort?" DG stepped around Cain with her hands on her hips.

His green eyes stared at her before he exploded. "After everything I did for you, and you chose him! Those old fools would never let you be Queen. Your mother was arguing to let Azkadellia back in the succession. I gave you the throne!"

DG's hands had dropped from her hips and curled into fists as Lord Vandervort ranted. Miles thought she was keeping herself from crying until a dark blue light pulsed around her frame and he felt the hairs on his arm prick. "Get this murdering bastard out of my sight before I make some Queen of Hearts declaration that violates everything we stand for."

The soldiers really moved then, hustling the screaming man into the rear of the manor.

"Come on, Miles, let's get you patched up." Connor pulled him into the lab.


	29. Chapter 29

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Envelope

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Twenty-Nine<strong>

Natalie had a medical kit open in the lab by the time Connor dragged Miles back inside. He didn't think the tussle had done any lasting damage to the young man, but the cut on his forehead worried him. "You were doing an antibodies test on Azkadellia's blood sample?"

Miles frowned. "I don't remember telling you that."

"Azkadellia told us. Did the sample break in the fight?"

"No, I checked." He winced as Connor dabbed on the disinfectant.

Connor glanced at Natalie who was checking the microscope. She nodded, the sample was fine, and then she started making another one.

The lab door opened admitting DG, Raw, and his ill-at-ease counterpart. "Is Dr. McCabe okay?"

"Just a little addled. We're worried that he picked up the virus."

"The sample didn't get damaged," Miles repeated. "I hit the table after Vandervort hit me in the back of my head, but I didn't hit the microscope."

Raw stepped up to Miles and put a hand on each of the goose-eggs swelling up on it. Miles inhaled sharply and gritted his teeth.

"Speaking of the virus, where are those vials?" Cain's eyes searched the room.

"We put them in the freezer with the dead, since freezing makes viruses go dormant," Connor said. "He never had a chance to get them back."

Raw stepped back from Miles. "Better now. No sickness."

"Thanks for the confirmation." Miles smiled. "Vandervort confirmed he used the Burzee Suffocation, which was the disease Eva found."

Connor crossed his arms. "Did she find a treatment?"

"No, but she did find a reference to the Consort and Crown Princess having survived catching it. Azkadellia said that it was talking about her, so testing for antibodies."

"And you were right!" Natalie pivoted from the microscope with a relieved grin. "Azkadellia does have antibodies fighting off this virus."

DG's brow furrowed. "So it's like chickenpox? Catch it once and you won't get it again?"

"That's why she hasn't gotten sick. Can you make a vaccine, Natalie?" Connor asked.

"I could, but we didn't pack an apheresis machine."

"I can handle the whatsit machine." DG put her hand on Natalie's arm. "Close your eyes and concentrate on what you need."

Miles hopped off the stool and headed to the door. Connor kept his eyes on the two women who were now glowing. The glow leached away as the boxy apheresis machine solidified beside them. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

Cain smirked. "I know she can do it and I'm still not used to it."

Natalie and DG woke up from the trance and Natalie gasped at the machine and immediately started examining it.

Miles held the door open for Azkadellia. "Really, it's okay. You've got antibodies so you don't have to be under quarantine." She entered the lab pensively.

"Az!" DG embraced her, before pulling back and frowning up at her. "Who's been mean to you?"

"The entire second floor," Miles answered.

"They're ill and don't know what they're saying. Don't upset them on my behalf, DG."

Miles snorted. "Baron Colfer knew what he was doing when he threw the soup bowl at you."

"Miles!"

"He did what? He is so off the Council." DG crossed her arms.

Connor inserted himself into their conversation. "You can plot political maneuverings while she's on the apheresis machine." He ushered Azkadellia to the couch nearest it. "What we need to do now is hook you up to this machine. It will draw your blood out, separate the plasma from the red blood cells, and return the red blood cells to you."

"Red blood cells, is that what you call oxygen carrier granules?"

The term threw Connor but that was essentially the function of red blood cells. "Probably. You know cytology?"

Azkadellia looked peeved, even though she held her arm out for Natalie to insert the needles. "Why do you all keep making up words? Is it a something that happens when you go through a travel storm? I thought DG was just indulging in bratty behavior but maybe she can't help it."

Cain snorted with suppressed laughter as DG flopped onto a nearby armchair. "And I keep saying language barrier," DG muttered.

"Father doesn't know what you mean either."

"It's not my fault he crossed over before the eighties."

Miles pulled his stool closer to Azkadellia. "Cytology is the study of cells, the smallest building blocks of organisms. You call them granules in the O.Z.?" She nodded. "What do you call the white ones in the blood stream?"

"Protection detail granules since they attack foreign substances in the blood stream."

Miles grinned. "Antibodies are proteins created by white blood cells to neutralize those foreign substances. We're going to make a vaccine from your antibodies that will help the patients fight off the virus."

"Don't tell them it's from me," she said sadly. Miles started to protest, but she interrupted him. "They won't accept the treatment if they know I helped. Please don't tell them."

"We won't tell them," Connor assured her.

"How come you know about medicine?" Miles tactfully dropped the subject of who should get credit.

"I was always good at the sciences. I guess I picked up more with all the alchemists the witch surrounded herself with."

Eva pushed opened the lab door and Frank was right behind her. "We clearly chose the wrong time to take a lunch break judging by how the servants are gossiping. What did we miss?"

They caught Eva and Frank up while Azkadellia was on the machine. Once she was finished, Raw suggested that both she and Miles get some food and sleep. DG and Conner both concurred, so the two left with the Viewer without argument. Natalie ignored them all while she went to work with the test tubes and centrifuges.

Frank turned to DG and Cain. "So what's going to happen to Vandervort now?"

DG shrugged. "No idea. I doubt bioterrorism is on the O.Z. law books."

"Murder and treason are," Cain said as he leaned against a bare wall near the door. "Bigger question is did anyone change the punishments when Galinda returned to power?"

"We took off headcasing and iron suits. I remember that."

"Public executions?" Cain raised his eyebrow.

DG groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I suppose whoever left that in had a good reason to."

"Probably hoping to see some Longcoats dance at the end of a rope." Cain shrugged when she glared at him. "I'm not saying it's right, but revenge is a powerful motivation. I'm also saying Vandervort doesn't deserve mercy. He killed seventy-six innocent people to get what he wanted."

"I know," she said softly, "but I don't want to talk about it any more."

Cain's expression softened. "Alright."

Connor finished updating the report and glanced at Natalie. She was looking into one of the microscopes but the tension had fled her body. He joined her at the microscope and she glanced at him with a slight smile. "It's working."

He checked the results for himself, even though he didn't need to verify her work. "We need to start duplicating it."

She glanced at her watch and then twisted his wrist to double check the time against his. "It maybe tomorrow before we have enough to start treating anyone." She let out a frustrated huff.

"How much do you need?" DG asked quietly.

"To make more?" Natalie answered. "At least five more labs following my recipe."

DG shook her head as she joined them. "I'm a human _Star Trek_ replicator. How much of the drug do you need?"

"Sixty doses," Connor said. "But it's still not a guarantee that everyone will get better."

"I know." She touched the small vial on the table. It shimmered and an exact copy began to appear next to it. "But it's the only chance they have."

Connor couldn't argue with that assessment. As more vials appeared, he wished they had this magic on Earth to push medicine's envelope and save more lives by not having to wait on anything.


	30. Chapter 30

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Fancy

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty<strong>

"You do realize this is a test." Cain grumbled as DG adjusted the collar of his uniform. It really didn't need adjusting, but as long as she was fiddling with it, he could grumble about the awards dinner. "They're just waiting to pounce on how I'm not a good host and since you don't have any idea what you're doing, you need to marry someone who does."

DG stood on her tiptoes and pecked his lips. "Your paranoia is usually right, but I have a plan if that scenario comes true."

"Should I bother asking what it is or just wait?"

"We'll elope with family and friends, and broadcast the ceremony to all of Central City."

"I like that plan," he smiled before kissing her more deeply than she had him. "Let's get this done."

"If it makes you feel better, Dr. Connor didn't want this fancy meal any more than you do. Natalie elbowed him in the ribs to stop him from complaining." DG took his arm and they headed downstairs to the dining hall.

The Council wanted to lavish the doctors with medals, titles, and possibly citizenship in the O.Z.-DG wasn't positive about the last one. The doctors were firmly entrenched in the just doing our jobs position. So DG latched onto the idea of an awards banquet with a speech for a compromise, and was holding a vacation up her sleeve to offer if it looked like it was needed.

They reached the parlor where everyone was gathering before dinner. The Counts had already captured Doctors Connor and Durant, but DG's brain had glitched and badly seeing Dr. Connor's tuxedo.

"No," Cain said into her ear. She turned to him with wide eyes. "I'm not wearing that ever, so don't get attached to the idea."

"But taking it off you would be so much fun," she whispered back.

His ears reddened. "Behave, we have to make a good impression."

Natalie spotted them first. Her red ball gown looked fantastic, even though she moved nervously in it. "Your Majesty, Mr. Cain, Count Roundtree was telling us how we haven't seen the best parts of the Outer Zone."

DG was all smiles. "What did you recommend they see first?"

Count Roundtree tugged on his cravat. "Oh Central City, your Majesty. Young Mr. Connor seemed to think our only technology was horses and armored transports."

Connor's arm rested around his son's shoulders. "It is all he has seen."

"Yes, well, I best check with Lord Ambrose and see if everything is ready." Count Roundtree scurried away.

Count Begon shook his head. "How does he manage to contribute anything to the government?"

DG didn't want to encourage Court gossip, especially since she was sure the cause of his distress was her fiance, so she grinned at Jack. "Looking sharp, Jack."

"Thanks." He tugged on his jacket with a grin. "Your sister made it, but she said I don't have any magic."

"It's an even split between being really useful and being a pain in the neck, trust me."

Count Begon frowned at the attention focused on a child. "Your father is not joining us, your Majesty?"

The smile left her face, but Cain answered for her. "Consort Ahamo didn't feel up to a party after everything that has happened." He turned back to Jack. "Personally, I like the Gap across the O.Z. DG says it's longer than the Grand Canyon on the Other Side."

"Wow, I haven't seen the Grand Canyon." Jack looked up at his father.

"I haven't either," Connor admitted.

"I have," Natalie said. "High school class trip."

"My class went to Chicago, and then the chaperones wouldn't let us go to the Hard Rock Cafe." DG's smile had finally returned, but it still felt forced. Ahamo was hurting so much, but he didn't want her or Azkadellia to help.

Frank Powell joined their group and pointed at the other end of the parlor. "Is this how it feels when the kids are finally old enough to go to prom?"

They all glanced in the direction he pointed. Azkadellia looked lovely in the ivory gown with emerald green details and clung to Miles' arm as they talked to Jeb, Eva, and another Royal Army Captain. DG spotted the matching green of the vest under his tuxedo jacket. Cripes, did she need to explain to her sister that Az couldn't keep the young doctor?

Connor met Frank's grin fighting a grin on his own face. "They grow up so fast."

"No picking on Miles," Natalie said.

"And Azkadellia wouldn't know what to do with that kind of teasing either," Cain added.

Frank shrugged. "Miles did open up a can of whupass. He's earned a date."

Glitch threw open the dining hall doors. "Dinner is served."

Cain took DG's arm. "This should be fun." Her grin in response was more real, and he ushered her to the head of the decorated table.


	31. Chapter 31

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Tangle

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-One<strong>

Natalie opened the suite door for Stephen, and then Jack's bedroom door. The boy's dark head rested on his father's broad shoulder and it took both hands for Stephen to carry Jack to the bed. She turned down the bed covers and left Stephen to finish, collapsing on the sofa before easing off the high heels.

She ran her hands over the silk covering her thighs. She couldn't remember ever owning something that looked so nice on her. If Kate ever took it in her head to invite Natalie to one of the political dinner meeting things that Stephen hated - not that the director would - now she had something to wear and not embarrass herself. She giggled.

"What's funny?" Stephen shed the tuxedo jacket and sat next to her.

"I feel like Cinderella who gets to keep the slippers, gown, and pumpkin coach."

His arm wrapped around her shoulders. "You should dress up more often."

"So are you going to start treating patients in a tux?" She rested her head against his shoulder. She felt his nearly silent chuckle. "Jack all tucked in?"

"It's been years since I've seen him crash that hard." He sighed as he stared at the small fire in the parlor's fireplace. "Have I traumatized him for good bringing him here?"

She blinked, carefully considering the question. "In my professional opinion, he couldn't seem any less traumatized. But I'm probably not the best one to ask."

"You see more than you give yourself credit for." His arm squeezed her shoulders. "I want the truth, Natalie, whatever it is."

And it had been such a pleasant evening up until now. She sighed, but gave him her observations and conclusions anyway. "You need to tell Jack why you do this job, Stephen. All he knows is Lisa blaming it for everything that went wrong in your marriage."

He didn't pull away from her like she expected. "She never wanted me to, I don't know, scare him about the nasty surprises Mother Nature has in the world, make him feel obligated to becoming a doctor to please me, I don't know."

"With all due respect, Lisa is being a coddling idiot. Jack is smart and he has your empathy. He knows our cases drive you but he doesn't have a why. And you know as well as I do, kids blame themselves when they don't have a why."

"Jack has my empathy, the stone-cold son-of-a-bitch of the N.I.H.?"

"I know your walls like you know mine. Still it's a shock when you drop them." She twisted slightly to see his making-me-be-mushy face. Well, he put her on the spot with questions about Jack, now it was his turn. "Like when you kissed me in the lab."

His arm tightened around her shoulders again and he glanced down at her. "I shouldn't have pushed you. Jack didn't say if those Longcoats bastards had assaulted you and I shouldn't have-"

"They didn't." She had the urge to kiss the confused look off his face. "My ability to dig out bullets was all they wanted." She twisted, hiked up the skirt of the gown so to not get tangled in it, and straddled his lap. His hands wrapped around her hips. "So all you saw was shock that Dr. Stephen Connor found me kissable."

A grin slowly spread across his face and he tugged her closer. "That's not all I find Dr. Natalie Durant, but it's a great place to start."

She cupped his face as he hands stroked up her back. Their lips met. Natalie's fingers combed through his short blond hair. His hand cradled her head, holding her in place as his mouth plundered hers.

He nibbled down her neck and that made her breathed out his name. She rocked her hips against him, driving a groan out of him. He laid his head against her shoulder and swept his hands down to her butt, leaving shivers in their wake. "How far do you want to go?"

She set her hands on his shoulders as he picked his head up. "If you want to pretend this never happened when we get back to Bethesda, I won't be responsible for my actions."

He chuckled. "No worries about that." He cupped her cheek and ran his thumb along her jaw. "I'm sorry it took you getting kidnapped for me to realize-"

Her kiss stopped that apology. She moved from his lips across his cheek as she unbuttoned his shirt. "Your bedroom or mine?" She whispered into his ear before capturing his earlobe.

"Yours." His hands squeezed her derriere before sliding to her thighs. "I haven't even looked at the bed in mine to see if it's long enough for me."

Natalie pressed her forehead to his while she chuckled and he joined her. She wasn't sure who was pushing and pulling first off the couch, but they made it to the mattress in a tangle of limbs and lips.


	32. Chapter 32

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Skull

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-Two<strong>

Jack stretched as he sat up in bed. He didn't remember climbing into it last night, which meant he must have conked out at the party. What a complete baby thing to do. He was blaming all the horseback riding lessons, but not to the point where someone would put a stop to those lessons.

He was dressed in clean blue jeans and a T-shirt before his stomach woke up with a loud rumble. Okay, breakfast first. He stuffed his feet into his sneakers before entering the suite's empty parlor. Food had been brought here yesterday before he woke, so no one had told him how room service worked here. Maybe Dad would know.

The bed in the first bedroom wasn't even slept in. Jack knew they were staying until all the patients were stable, but he figured Dad would at least get to sleep now that they had given everybody the vaccine. He would have to bother Natalie, so he pushed open the crack in her door and poked his head inside.

And pulled it out of the room much faster when he realized two people were sharing the bed. Dad and Natalie, both still sleeping; he eased the door back into place. He liked Natalie. She didn't want to erase his existence like the jerks Mom found to date. Dad could do a lot worse.

His stomach rumbled again and Jack decided it was best to go find the kitchen. He shut the suite door quietly. Too bad he didn't make himself a map yesterday, all he could remember was it was on the first floor. He headed for the staircase.

"Where are you sneaking off to?" Dad's voice but with a slight drawl to it.

It still made Jack jump though. He swiveled around. Mr. Cain dressed like a cowboy again waited in the hall for an answer. "I was just looking for breakfast. Didn't want to wake Dad and Natalie."

Mr. Cain had Dad's I-don't-believe-you-but-I-won't-call-you-on-it smirk too. "I'm having breakfast DG and they always send her too much food. Come on." Jack didn't protest and followed him down the hall. Mr. Cain nodded to the soldiers standing beside a door before he opened it. "Look who I found."

DG looked up from moving the dishes from a cart to the table. "Hi Jack. Up to mischief early this morning?" The smile on her face didn't disapprove of mischievous plans.

"Just breakfast." He sat down in a chair while Mr. Cain pulled a third closer to the table. "I was being quiet so not to wake Dad and Natalie." He accepted the papay juice she poured for him. "Besides, it's not like you guys have anything fun to do."

"I know that tone of voice." DG passed the plate of eggs to Mr. Cain. "What would you normally being doing back home?"

"Boy Scouts meeting, baseball practice, hanging out with my friends, watching television, the usual stuff." He heaped the scrambled eggs onto his plate.

"You play baseball? What position?"

"Outfield, the coach shifts me between left, center, and right field."

DG took some bacon for herself before passing it. "Batting order?"

"Seventh," Jack sighed. "My RBI sucks. The coach says I need to pick one sport instead of baseball and football."

"You play football too?"

"Quarterback. Dad played free safety in college."

Mr. Cain sighed. "What are you two talking about?" He passed the bacon to Jack.

"Sports, Wyatt. We've talked about Other Side sports before."

"Children games played by adults intent on breaking their skulls for entertainment?"

Jack chuckled. "How did she describe reality TV to you?"

She chewed on a strip of bacon and her face brightened. "The Counts left for Central City. Let's play ball!"


	33. Chapter 33

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Contest

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-Three<strong>

Jeb flexed his hand in the bulky glove that shaped his hand into a cup and wondered how exactly he got roped into this. So he had a soft spot for the son of the man who looked and acted so much like his own father. Jack was like a little brother his parents had never given him. DG's enthusiasm for something that represented her childhood pulled at everyone. And Jeb found himself out in the middle of Baron Colfer's sizable lawn, waiting for Dr. Connor to throw the white ball for Marsen to hit with a club, in hopes that he would catch the ball without it hitting the ground first. Strange contest the Other Side had invented.

His father was not playing, opting instead to keep Azkadellia company while they watched. Frank decided to be something called the umpire, which meant scorekeeper. All the other Slippers were quickly picked for Jack's team along with Jeb. DG got Marsen, Glitch, and Raw. Soldiers and Colfer's servants with free time and wanted to try out this game filled up the available positions until eighteen people were playing.

DG and Frank had to keep explaining the rules more often to her teammates, but Jack's team had no advantage despite knowing the game. Connor and Jack were the only ones with any athletic ability.

Marsen's club connected with the ball with a crack that sounded like something should be broken. The ball bounced to the left field. She ran for the white mat called first base, red hair streaming in her wake. Glitch was already safely on second when the ball arrived.

Raw was the next one to hit. DG adjusted his stance to her liking, before retreating to the bench both she and Jack called the dugout even though they hadn't attacked the Baron's lawn with shovels.

The ball soared over head and Jeb realized it was going past him. He grinned and started running for it.


	34. Chapter 34

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Ship

And because Part Thirty-Three is so short, you get two parts today.

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-Four<strong>

Azkadellia took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She pushed it open with her sister's invitation. DG was stretched out on the sofa in her bedroom with an arm flung over her eyes. "Oh yes, you're hard at work on paperwork."

"Don't be cross with me, Az. It's the only excuse I could use to have some time for myself." She sat up and patted the couch next to her. "Girl talk time?"

"It took paperwork to drive Mr. Cain from your side? I'm not complaining, but I'm glad to catch you alone."

DG's eyebrows rose. "And how much time have you spent out of Dr. McCabe's company lately?"

"That's not fair." Her cheeks burned under DG's mocking gaze. "Do you have something against him?"

"No, I don't have anything against him. He's a doctor, he's brave, and he has stood up for you. He's a good man, and probably a lot of girls' dream ship finally docked. But he has to go home."

She looked down at the floor. "I know that, and he has asked me to go with him."

"The Other Side? Are you sure?" The mocking was gone, replaced by concern.

"Oh I don't doubt that there will be plenty of things I'll get confused about. But what do I have here, DG?" Her younger sister grabbed her hand and squeezed it in support. "The people blamed me for the illness, the Council thinks I'm the worst possible influence on you, no suitor will ever want my hand, and Father will never forgive me."

"Ahamo still mad at me too."

"Miles thinks I could become a nurse-practitioner, and if I can't manage that, I can bring back alchemy to the O.Z. It's a fresh start." Azkadellia gazed into DG's big blue eyes. "I need a fresh start."

DG wrapped her arms around Azkadellia and squeezed tightly. "You still have to come back for regular visits. And you can't skip out on all the big state events we have coming up. And I have to talk to him about how he's supposed to treat my big sister."

Tears sprung into her brown eyes, but they were happy tears. "Can you talk to him without Mr. Cain or Dr. Connor? They make him nervous."


	35. Chapter 35

**Note:** Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Pack

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-Five<strong>

Cain took the nervous Jack's fishing rod as Natalie pulled Connor from the fishing hole's bank. "He'll be alright," he assured the boy.

"Your dad has had all his tetanus shots," Natalie said over her shoulder. Then she turned to Connor. "You don't fish, why are you trying to teach him how to fish?"

"He has a merit badge to earn." Connor grunted as he sat down with his back against a tree.

Jack sighed. "Frank said this would happen," he confided in Cain. "The first aid kit is in my pack."

"First aid, you should be helping him with merit badges in that." Natalie dug the smaller red pack out of Jack's blue one.

"I already got all the merit badges you can get in first aid when I was a Cub Scout." Jack shrugged at Natalie's stare. "I'm trying to expand my survivalist knowledge now."

She shook her head and knelt next to Connor. "Why am I not surprised?"

Cain's lips twitched. "Your father just showed you how not to bait a hook, so we'll practice that. Get a worm out of the bucket."

Azkadellia and Miles were approaching their group, holding hands. That was less surprising than the eldest princess in trousers. DG had told him about Azkadellia's plans and it seemed like she was using this time waiting to see if the ill would fully recover to experiment with Other Side fashions. The shirt and trousers were similar to ones Natalie had worn, the coat looked like it belonged to Miles, and the canvas boots were pure DG.

"That wasn't so hard." Jack waved the fishing hook and the worm didn't fall off it.

"Now you have to get it into the water where the fish are." Cain demonstrated casting the line into the water.

Miles and Azkadellia had reached the tree, and Miles grimaced. "Maybe now's not the best time."

"Just spit it out, Miles," Connor growled. "My mood's probably not going to get better."

"Hold still or I'll have to get a scalpel," Natalie said.

Miles took a deep breath. "Azkadellia wants to come back to Earth with us."

"We're not supposed to take illegal aliens back with us." Conner sighed.

Jack's cast wasn't graceful, but the bait ended up in the water and the line remained untangled. "That's good," Cain said. "Now reel it in slow."

"DG said you might say that." Azkadellia conjured a blanket and sat down on it. "She is changing her papers, so I can use them. I can't in Kansas where she grew up, but no one knows her in Maryland."

"Ow!" Natalie smirked as she handed Connor the gauze. He grimaced while she serenely repacked the contents of the kit, and he turned back to Azkadellia. "So your sister approves of this plan?"

"DG thinks I have a chance to be happy on Earth and she wants me to take that chance." Her tugging on Miles' arm finally had an effect and he plopped down beside her on the blanket.

"She wants to study medicine," Miles added.

"And you promised to help her?" Natalie asked as she fastened the gauze around Connor's thumb.

"Yes," he answered, just a touch defensively.

Connor sighed. "You're both adults, you don't need my permission. Now, go; I'm supposed to be enjoying this time with my son."

Both of their grins were relieved and they scampered back to the manor house, grabbing hands again. Natalie sat down on the blanket they left behind. "You don't need my permission?"

"Approval, permission; they're happy, Natalie, what more do you want?"

Jack's pole suddenly bent. "Hey! I got one!"

Cain talked him through reeling it in faster, so not to lose it while Connor and Natalie joined them. The boy won and the bright yellow fish dangled from the end of the pole. Cain grabbed the fishing line. "A yellowscale, good job." He looked at the beaming father and son. "So what do they consider the end for this merit badge on the Other Side? We always said after you cleaned and cooked it."

Jack grabbed the bucket to set the fish in. "Wait, you have Boy Scouts in the O.Z.? You don't have baseball or football, but you have Boy Scouts?"

"Had. Before the war. Jeb never got to participate in it." Cain shook off past regrets and looked at Connor.

"He's supposed to clean and cook it," Connor answered. "So it's best to practice that."

Natalie folded the blanket over her arm. "Okay, I'll see you guys back at the house."

Jack snickered. "Come on, Natalie, it's just a fish autopsy!"

"I don't eat my autopsies, okay?" Her determined stride didn't relent.


	36. Chapter 36

**Warnings:** HUGE reference to _You Ever Wonder Why?_ by ErinM (.net/s/5011147/1/You_Ever_Wonder_Why). It's part of my fanon for _Medical Investigation_ and this section may depend on you reading it. Read it anyway, even if it doesn't.  
><strong>Note:<strong> Written for the TM-Challenge Big Damn Fic Prompt Table 4. **Prompt:** Born

* * *

><p><strong>Alchemy<strong>  
><strong>Part Thirty-Six<strong>

Three more patients had died from complications but the rest would survive, so the team from N.I.H. plus one returned to Bethesda. They split up as usual at the end of the case, only differently. Azkadellia was going home with Miles and Natalie accompanied Connor and Jack back to N.I.H. so Connor could drop off the reports. Connor was glad she kept Jack away from the most surreal meeting he had ever had in his entire career to date.

He met them in the parking garage next to his El Camino and Natalie's compact car. Natalie caught sight of his expression and winced sympathetically. "Typical Kate meeting?"

"Yes, yes it was. I know it was supposed to be, but still, turning in a report like that." He shook his head. "Don't ever let me tell Azkadellia, I mean Dellia to cast a spell on her."

She smiled. "I'll restrain you from your worse impulses."

"Glad to know that hasn't changed." He stepped closer to her.

Jack huffed somewhere nearby. "Go on and kiss her, Dad. I know you're dating."

How did he find out briefly crossed Connor's mind before he pulled Natalie close and kissed her. "I have something to do with Jack. Meet us at my place about 8?"

"I'll bring pizza." She kissed him again quickly. "Jack, you have a favorite pizza?"

"Meat Lovers!"

The mood in the El Camino was north of uncomfortable and east of awkward. Why was it the mere fact that Jack was his son made it so hard to talk to him? It was so easy to promise he wouldn't be his father all over again, and make different mistakes that added up to the same thing. "Natalie and I... it's recent."

"It's cool, Dad. I like Natalie. Not as much as you like her." Jack's smirk was almost looking into a mirror.

"She means a lot to me, you both do. I know I'm not the best at showing that, but I want to get better." He gripped the steering wheel tighter. "My job is not more important than you."

Jack stared out the window. "I know that. I know people are counting on you to keep them from dying."

Connor snorted lightly. "That's the reason that justifies the paycheck. It's not why I became a doctor." He parked the car in front of the florist's shop on the route. "Wait here."

Jack's curious expression didn't abate when he passed him four long-stem red roses to hold. "Shouldn't these be in water? So the flowers are okay before we see Natalie again?"

"They're not for Natalie." He found a parking space near the entrance to the cemetery. Jack silently followed him down the path he had memorized. Natalie had been that quiet too, when he brought her after the plague outbreak in Baltimore. He stopped before the too-familiar gravestone and set one of the roses in his hand on top of the granite.

**Therese Anne Connor**  
><strong>1964 - 1982<strong>

Connor took a deep breath before he looked down into Jack's puzzled brown eyes. "This is your Aunt Therese, my big sister. She died when I wasn't much older than you." He dug out his wallet and passed the tattered photograph to his son, so Jack could see the vibrant blue-eyed blonde girl that he would never know. "The doctors couldn't save her. And nothing was the same after she was gone."

"She was why you became a doctor." Jack put that together so quickly, Connor would never be able to tell Natalie she was wrong ever again. He laid one of his roses beside the one Connor had left.

"I wanted to keep people from feeling that pain." Connor tugged Jack to his side for a one-armed hug. "I don't want you to feel that way, Jack. You don't have to be a doctor to make me happy or proud. I'm proud of you for just being born, for being you, no matter what, okay?"

Jack's arm tightened around Connor's waist. "It's okay, Dad. I'm not ready to decide on a career yet."

Connor swallowed hard. "I don't want you to have my regrets. Because I can't save everyone. I try, but nature doesn't care." He tugged Jack to the next gravestone. "And it's not your responsibility to fix me. And it's not your fault if I hide too much of how I'm feeling." At least the photograph of the toddler was on this headstone and he wouldn't have to go fumbling with his wallet again. "I don't have any better ways of getting through the day. But I'm trying."

"I know you are, Dad." Jack didn't move his arm from around Connor's waist.

Connor felt his lips purse to hold in everything else, but he parted them anyway, gesturing to the name on the headstone with the rose. "And this is your sister, Maggie."

**The End**

* * *

><p>Well, that's the end. I'm sorry for offering drabbles instead of real chapters-especially when they were so short. And I'm sorry for not being able to suspend the sense of disbelief of all the <em>Medical Investigation<em> fans who stopped reviewing (and as far as I know stopped reading it all together). This was my first _Medical Investigation_ story and it made me more nervous about handling those characters. I hope everyone who has stuck through to the end enjoyed my foray into crossing over an awesome TV show canceled too soon and _Tin Man_.**  
><strong>


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